Synthetics & Sinners: Original Sin
by Gadflow
Summary: Pre-ME 1 AU: Following Akuze Shepard finds herself ejected from the Alliance. The now adrift human finds herself approached with an offer to join the Spectres, one which she accepts. Follow Evalyn as she begins her journey into the shadows that the Spectres operate from, and as she begins the process to transcend past the limits that nature has set for her. (Reboot/rewrite of S&S)
1. Sins of a Mother

AN: So, some of you are going to want to kill me over this but I'm rewriting S&S and retitling it Synthetics & Sinners. I've had a somewhat rough couple months and I just cannot get back to where I was, but what I can do apparently is start somewhat fresh.

You guys who have followed me might be ticked off, or furious, or something past that like blinded by pure rage, but if I'm being bluntly honest I'm not writing this for you guys, I'm writing it for me.

That being said, this is not just me adding more stuff, I've changed backstories, some parts will be removed/streamlined/changed, and there will be substantially more Spectre content before I jump to ME 1. Some of this will be based off of ideas I had afterward and regretted not being able to change, while some are from discussions I have had with some of my readers.

S&S

 **What does it mean to be human? Some would argue that it simply means being the dominant species on this planet of ours, others will argue that there is some divine spark inside of us that makes us, special.**

 **But I disagree.**

 **I believe that what it means to be human, is to know that you are going to die. To have to wrestle daily with that fact that despite whatever you do, that one day you are going to cease to be.**

 **Until today.**

 **Today I am revealing to the world the first step to a world without death, the first step to ascending beyond what it means to be human.**

-Azime Cerci, CEO and Founder of Beacon Technologies, 2061 CE

S&S

" _What do you mean you have another mission!?" The angry tone of her Father caused the young girl to flinch from her hiding place near her bedroom door, he never yelled in front of her but she knew that he and Mommy did when they thought she was asleep._

 _She figured that he just missed her because she was gone so much, but she didn't get why he didn't understand why Mommy had to leave, she went out and got rid of the bad people so that other people didn't get hurt. And if she understood that, then why didn't Daddy?_

 _She spotted her Mother through the crack in the door, already in her combat gear while her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, "John, I know you don't like it, but I can't just leave Jack to deal with this all by himself. I know you don't like him, or what we do, but if he loses it we are all in trouble."_

 _A growl escaped from her Dad, "And what about us? What about your fucking Daughter, Hannah?"_

 _For a brief second Evalyn saw a flicker of something cross her Mom's face, before she whispered something to her Dad, who just seemed to deflate, "That wasn't your fault." He sighed as he pulled her in close, "You're her hero, nothing can change that."_

 _A chuckle emerged from the blonde woman, "Don't make a girl a promise that you can't keep." But she stayed in the embrace for a while, before shooting a look over her shoulder, "Shouldn't you be in bed, young lady?"_

 _Evalyn let out a small noise of surprise as she darted back towards her bed, the door creaking open a few moments later as her Mother settled at the side of the bed, "I'm sorry for having to leave so soon, Eva." The smaller blonde just gave her Mother a look of pure adoration, "But you have to go out and make sure people are safe." The sheer amount that the girl believed in her statement caused Hannah's breath to hitch, leaning over and pulling the girl into a tight hug._

" _I love you, Evalyn." The girl just hummed contentedly, "Love you too, Mommy."_

She was dimly aware of a tone chiming in her ear, _as Hannah pulled away, "I'll be home before you know it, Evalyn-" "_ C _o_ mmander? Commander, we're about two hours from Akuze."

Eva jerked awake, glancing blearily around the small cabin that her rank entitled her to, "I'm awake, Toombs. Go and pester someone else." A sigh filled the cabin as her mind returned to the rapidly fading dream of a memory, the last time she had seen her Mother alive.

Hannah Shepard had never returned from that mission, the Batarian's had slammed a damaged ship into the structure that her Mother's squad had been using for cover, leaving no remains to fill the empty coffin that occupied the family plot back on Earth.

But it had pushed the younger girl to follow in her Mother's footsteps, even after she lost her Father years later she kept going, and now here she was.

Lieutenant-Commander Evalyn M. Shepard, N7. A smile flickered on her face at the last title, the N7 program had only been in its infancy when Hannah had served, but she knew the woman would be proud of her.

Her Father, her Grandfather, even Anderson, had wanted her to follow in the family legacy of leaders of the fleet. Hell she had been groomed to take over the Alliance's R&D division from the moment she fabricated her first drone. And while it was petty, she would be lying if she said that she hadn't enjoyed the surprise on her Grandfather's face when she informed him she was joining the marines.

She yanked on her gear with mechanical precision, before lastly grabbing the visor from the nearby desk that fit over her right ear, a display extending forward to cover her eye, which after a few seconds had linked up with her artificial left eye's HUD.

By now everyone should be getting assembled, and so she made her way towards the briefing room, noting that Toombs must have awoken her first as there was no one else present.

She chuckled at that, Toombs had potential, but the man tried too hard to ingratiate himself with the officers. She moved over to the tactical table and began to input the data they had on the colony of Rust, named after the color of Akuze's soil.

Rust had gone silent a week ago with no communication but a repeating distress signal, and Evalyn's unit had been scrambled to investigate aboard the SSV Warsaw, an older but still serviceable Cruiser that had served with distinction during the FCW.

A trio of footsteps caused her to glance up as her squad leaders entered the room, Hale Smith their resident combat engineer from Arcturus,James Smith who was as generic as his name but overall a solid squad leader, and Thomas Barros who led the unit's small force of shocktroopers.

She tapped the table causing the display to light up with what they knew had been the colonies layout, Rust was an UNAS colony which meant that it had to follow certain protocols in how it was setup so they at least had an idea of how to approach the situation.

"Hale, central communications are located in this building here," she gestured towards a squat building near the edge of the colony, "Hopefully this was just an equipment malfunction that we can fix, and then be on our way. "

She dragged her finger along the display, leaving behind a light blue line on the display, "James, I want you to take the whatever men Hale doesn't need and do a circle of the colony in our vehicles. Report anything you notice as suspicious, if nothing is off I want you to pull in towards the colony and begin setting up a perimeter."

She tapped several buildings on the display, "Armory, emergency supplies, and fabricators, Barros I want you and your men to investigate all three buildings to see if anything is missing. If we haven't figured out what the fuck is going on by then, start checking each and every building in the colony."

She let out a sigh, "This is a small colony, only about 300 souls and we all know that UNAS doesn't give a shit as long as they claimed it first. So lets actually help these people."

That got some nods from her Lieutenants, but they were soon cut off by the comm system about them activating, _"Commander, we just got in scanning range, you're going to want to see this."_

"Can you patch it down to tactical?" No response came but the table quickly began to pulse as it received the data being forwarded to it, and as the image flickered into view a low whistle escaped from Barros, "That's bad."

The colony was beyond simply being damaged, it was destroyed.

Shepard just starred at the sheer level of destruction, it didn't make sense for pirates, or even Batarian's to do so much superfluous damage, so what could have done this. An angry growl escaped her lips, "Come on, we're not going to learn anything from up here. Smith, I want you to start from the colony then work your way out, Hale and Barros your orders remain the same. Let's see if we can get some answers, finding survivors though is our primary objective."

S&S

The nearby terminal began to chirp at her, causing the woman to angrily glare at it before she opened the channel, "You're not supposed to use this line unless it's important, Steven."

The grizzled face of the Admiral of fifth fleet filled the screen, "Is the Akuze project still active? Or did he have it deactivated."

An eyebrow raised at the statement, "And why would you be asking that? It isn't like you to get involved any more then you have to."

The man's eyes hardened, "This is important, Hannah."

The blonde woman sighed as she turned around in her chair to access the file in question, "Report here says that the colony beacon was left active, the others were deactivated, that seems," her mouth tilted downwards into a frown, "Sloppy."

She turned to see that Hackett's face had visibly paled as his eyes seemed unfocused, "Steven, what's wrong?"

Her voice seemed to shake him out of his stupor, "Second fleet just dispatched a team to investigate Akuze. Hannah, Evalyn was the leader of the team they sent."

The mention of her long separated Daughter slammed into the older woman like a fist to her gut, a soundless cry trying to emerge from her lips. She had seen the result of the initial experiment, and while it had shown that the creatures had tremendous potential for destruction they were almost impossible to control.

And now Evalyn was in the middle of this mess.

Her gaze hardened as it landed on Hackett, "Then fix this, recall her, do something!"

The man's eyes flashed with pity momentarily as he allowed himself to not be the Admiral but instead be the man who had been her Husband's best friend, but then that was gone and all she got was a growled, "I did do something. I called you."

The man sighed, "I'm moving a medical frigate into position that will be ready if there is any distress signal sent out by the marines on the ground, but Hannah I can't just unilaterally act on intel I'm not supposed to have."

The unspoken fact that she could did not go unheard.

"Thank you, Steven." She tried, and failed, to muster a smile for the man, but all he did was shake his head, "Thank me if you get there in time."

Hannah made her way to her feet as she grabbed whatever gear she thought she may need for this situation, before finally tapping a contact icon on her omni, "Miri, I need you to prep a ship for us, and make sure it is ready to receive wounded."

There was no response, but she knew that Miranda would have it done by the time she arrived.

Miranda, the girl was for all intents and purposes her child save for the fact that they shared no genetic connection. But after staging her death the blonde had found herself bonding with the broken teenager, perhaps it had been selfish of her to replace Evalyn, but she had only to remind herself why she had cut ties with her family in the first place.

Saren.

The Turian Spectre blamed her and Jack for the fall of his brother to madness, and had in no uncertain terms informed her of what would happen to her family if she continued as a relatively untouchable public figure. The Turian was bloodthirsty, and he wanted her to suffer, but he also wanted to avoid trouble on his end of the matter.

And so she had chosen to sacrifice her life as Hannah Shepard, in the hope that Saren Arterius would keep his word. At first it seemed that he had, until John had died four years later and Evalyn had been severely injured.

She had been just about to step into the girl's hospital room when Jack had appeared, dragging her away from the child that seemed so small in the hospital bed. He told her that yes, Saren had been involved in the hit, but the Turian had actually tried to decline the mission. Which had forced Hannah to concede that the Turian was still trying to uphold his end of the bargain. Trying though, and actually doing it were two entirely different matters.

And that was when Miranda had entered the picture, and Hannah had selfishly allowed herself to bond with the young woman.

The same Miranda that stood at the foot of one of the numerous ships in the hanger bay, tapping away at her Omni before her eyes flicked up, "The crew is just hooking in the mobile surgery suite and then we will be able to takeoff. Do we have a destination?"

Hannah gave a small nod as she walked by, "Akuze."

She knew that if Evalyn ever discovered the truth she would never forgive her, she had long since accepted that fact. But Hannah was still her mother, and what mother could knowingly do nothing if their child's life was in danger.

S&S

The dropship rocked violently as the strong winds of Akuze slammed into it, causing Evalyn to wish she was piloting even if the rest of the marines were of the opposite mindset.

" _We've hit the ground, Ma'am. Performing initial sweep of the colony."_ James' voice over the comm's distracted her from the lack of control she had over her current situation, "Good, we'll be touching down shortly, mark anything of interest on the tactical net."

The dropship's hatch swung downwards as the rest of the marines jumped from the hovering vehicle, the hatch already beginning to close before Evalyn had hit the ground, the pilot being eager to return back to the ship. The Warsaw had been pulled from her regular patrol to drop the team off here, and the Captain had informed her that a Batarian vessel had been spotted nearby which would necessitate him moving his ship out of orbit to investigate. Evalyn had of course understood, but the idea of being alone on this planet didn't sit well with her.

"Alright, we'll be moving up the route that James' squad already covered and until we link up with Hale's squad at the logistics building. If you spot something call it out, but don't investigate on your own. If you think you spot a survivor be cautious the Batarian's like to booby trap the victims they leave behind."

" _Ma'am, I'm at the emergency beacon but somethings wrong."_ Shepard frowned, letting herself drift into the middle of the formation, "What's the problem, Hale?"

" _The beacon is standard issue alliance hardware."_

"Okay, so what is the problem?" She knew the moment Hale had said it that something was wrong, but the answer wasn't coming to her so she had to trust the engineer's judgement, _"This is a UNAS colony, they would never use current gen equipment on a startup colony."_

"Can you disable the beacon?" The response was almost instantaneous, _"No, the damn thing is rigged to the building's eezo core. I toy with it and all that I'll have accomplished is making another hole in this colony, or a hole of this colony. Fuck! This place has a big reactor."_ Shepard's mind was already processing the likely outcomes of what that meant, the foremost being that this was a trap, "Warsaw, we need immediate evac, turn those birds around."

When no response came her frown deepened, "Warsaw, Warsaw come in. Fuck!" She noted the nervousness on the marines near her, "Everyone we're going to rendezvous with Hale's squad now, double-time."

As the marine's began to move her hand was pressed against her ear, "James, see if you can punch through this interference with the Mako. If you can't then all squad's are to rendezvous at Hale's location and then we'll move away from the Colony, that jammer has to have a range on it." What the hell was going on here, if the beacon only blocked outbound signals then someone didn't want the locals knowing that anything was wrong until it was too late, what the fuck had they gotten themselves into?

The moment her hand dropped she noticed Toombs giving her a worried look, "Something wrong, Corporal?" The man looked away but he apparently had enough courage to ask his question, "Do you think it was the Batarian's, Ma'am?"

"No."

Her answer seemed to surprise him, "Why not?"

A sigh escaped her lips, "Because when the Batarian's decide to destroy a colony instead of just raiding it, they don't love behind anything but glass."

Just before arriving at the comm center they were joined by Barros' men, the heavily armored man himself just shook his head when he approached her, "I don't know what the hell hit this place, but whatever it was, the damn thing was strong."

She brought herself to a stop, "You think this was an animal, some kind of local wildlife?"

Barros face showed his own uncertainty, "Some of it for sure, I mean the armory is empty but the fabricators are still there." He sighed, "The damage to the buildings though," he hefted up his omni showing a picture take from inside one of the nearby structures, "Look, there is a hole big enough for three marines to walk through that went through four layers of fabricated materials. I don't know of any weapon or piece of equipment that can do that."

Hale's squad came out of the building, the brunette scowling as she did so, "I don't know what James is doing but I managed to get as many of the colony's systems online that I could, and the seismic sensors are going through the roof."

Both Barros and her turned to each other as they realized the implication of that, "James, don't take the Mako's into the colony. Get the hell out of them and start running!"

" _Ma'am, did you just order us to- "_ His transmission was cut-off as a sudden high pitched shriek filled the air. "James? James? Fuck will someone answer me!"

Before an answer could come the ground before them suddenly shifted as an enormous form emerged from the group, the force of its appearance sent Evalyn flying into a nearby building while those marines still standing began to fire upon the dust shrouded creature.

She grabbed the Sabre rifle off of her back, sighting on the huge form she could see writhing inside the red cloud floating in the air. A nearby marine let out of surprised scream as a massive tentacle slammed down on her form, Barros in the meanwhile seemed to materialize from the red haze that filled the area, as the shotgun in his hands flared as it blew the tentacle off of the prone human.

Evalyn stumbled toward them, beginning to bend down to help the man pull the injured woman to safety, but stopped as she found both her and Barros starring at the woman's body. Acid had eaten through the armor, and the flesh underneath, "What the hell is this thing?"

She activated her tactical net as a holographic projection of the battlefield appeared before her, "Hale how large of an explosion will that generator cause?"

" _I don't know, a fucking big one!"_

She nodded as a plan came to her mind, "Hale I need you to turn on the fabricators, the creature should be attracted to the vibrations. I want all squads to move out of the colony while I detonate the generator."

" _Ma'am, I can handle the generator."_ Before she could respond to Hale's comment Barros tackled her to the ground as one of the larger tentacles swiped at her, "How the hell do you know that, Ma'am?! For all you know they might ignore it and just go for us."

She shot him a glare, "This creature is subterranean, it would need to be able to sense vibrations to hunt." As she shoved him off of she spoke into her mic, "Plus I never said I was going to blow myself up, but I'm better with technology than you, Lieutenant. We can't risk it going off too early, but I'm extremely doubtful that we have a lot of time either to sit around and talk about this!"

She paused before she let out a breath to clear her mind of the chaos around her, "Any other questions."

As no response came she just nodded to herself, "Move out marines, good luck."

She scrambled to her feet before making a beeline for the structure in question, her HUD highlighting obstructions through the haze that had been relayed to it through the other soldiers' suits allowing her to avoid the worst of the obstructions that littered the street.

The moment she stepped inside the building she could feel the thrum of the fabricators that were located in the building, "Okay, that might attract its attention sooner then I hoped."

She took off at a dash through the structure her footsteps echoing oddly in the abandoned building, her omni glowing as she quickly forged the small device she intended to use on the booby trapped device. It was about the most simplistic machine you could make, one that simply let out an electrical charge when triggered.

Which in theory should set off the beacon, which should in turn make this colony into a crater, "theory," she muttered to herself as she skidded to a halt in front of the object in question.

Of course she could also, theoretically, trigger the damn thing the moment she touched it, but that was a risk she was going to have to take, "but first."

Her arm glowed as she did a quick scan of the device, her higher grade omni letting her take a more detailed look at its inner workings than Hale had been able to, a victorious smirk pulled at her lips as she realized that the casing was indeed not linked to any triggers. Her omni flash manufactured the tools she needed as she needed them, allowing her to quickly unhook a large panel from the device, which soon found itself tossed across the room the moment it was free.

She was midway through installing the device when the shriek of tortured metal filled the room, she glanced up only to be met with the sight of the building's hardened roof, the same roof that was rated to be used on some of the most hostile environments in the galaxy, being melted right in front of her. Which only became more surreal as the substantially weakened metal was peeled apart like the top of a ration pack by the massive creature.

This was her first true look at the thing, and it was hideous with numerous tentacles coming off of its thick wormlike trunk of a body. The grasping limbs began to surge forward but she had already grabbed the rifle laying next to her the moment it had began its assault on the roof, but instead of targeting the body she sighted the appendages that were making their way swiftly toward her.

She managed to connect with three of them, each one recoiling reflexively from the Sabre's rounds, before they snaked around her. She could already smell the stench of corroding metal as the acid coating the creature's limbs went to work.

One limb in particular wrapped around her neck and Evalyn tried to bite back a scream as the acid quickly ate though the thinner bodysuit which was that area's sole protection, but it escaped her throat regardless of her intention as she felt the skin below begin to be exposed to the substance.

Then as if by an act of God, she was let go. Her body hitting the ground heavily, and she became very aware of how her leg bent awkwardly under her armored weight at an angle which only elicited another groan of pain. She pushed through that pain however as she attempted to quickly pull herself back together, idly noting that she was being helped to her feat by Corporal Toombs, "I thought I gave everyone an order to get the hell out of here."

The man just shrugged, "Saving my CO's life on my first mission and this is the thanks I get." He began to move towards the exit only to be halted by a shake of her head, "Need to finish this, cover me." She hobbled over to her previous station as she worked to finish up where she had left off.

The man opened his mouth as if to argue but instead gave her a small nod, as he hefted the grenade launcher off his back and pointed it at the hole that exposed the room to the sky. The work itself took only a couple of minutes, but it felt like an eternity but finally she gave a tired nod, "Alright let's get out of here."

The detonator was linked through her internal systems, and just for good measure she made sure that it would go off if she were to flatline, at least then she could be confident that if the Warsaw was still in scanning range she would investigate the situation.

The pair had only made it halfway across the open terrain in front of the building, mostly thanks to her hobbled walk, when the ground began to rumble beneath their feet. Shepard sighed as she knew there was no way the Corporal would leave her side, so she did the only thing she could think of that would make sure at least one of them made it out alive, and so she drew on what limited biotic ability she had and pushed Toombs as far away from the epicenter as she could, "Run!"

She barely even registered the pain her biotics caused as the creature's maw closed on her body, instead her eyes were wide saucers as she found herself lifted over the haze that had settled over the colony, and she could see at least a dozen of the shrieking creatures surrounding the killing field that was Rust.

And as hope drained from her, a cruel smile formed on her features as she activated the makeshift bomb.

At least I'm taking you down with me, was the final thought that filled her mind before the world turned white.

S&S

Her world became pain, and in that pain she lost track of time, of who she even was. All she had was the pain that permeated every molecule of her being.

And her attempt to escape it.

S&S

Hannah blanched at the sight before her, her omni held up track any signs of life in the area. Miranda stood by her side, a frown on her face, "I triggered one of the alternate devices a few miles away, but there is no guarantee there won't be some of those creatures still in the area."

The older woman nodded, "Then we'll have to find her quickly then." Miranda shot her a glance that obviously asked what they were to do if they didn't find the Commander, but Hannah ignored it for now and simply focused on the task at hand.

She moved towards the crater that had been the colony, while Miranda began to move around the battlefield that the area surrounding the former outpost of civilization had become. The blonde found her pace quickening to a run when her omni detected a heat source ahead, coming from one of the still partially standing buildings that had sat on the edge of the habitat.

The entrance was blocked loosely with rubble, but it only delayed her for a minute or two before she pushed her way inside, her omni illuminating the area in an orange glow.

As soon as she was in the chamber a male's voice quietly called out, "Commander, is that you?" The voice came from her right, and as she turned her head she saw a wounded marine that was obviously not her Daughter.

She knelt down, "No, but I'm looking for her. Did you see what happened to the Commander?"

The man opened his mouth to speak but only succeeded in coughing a few times before Hannah pulled a small canteen from her hip, grabbing the man's jaw she caught his gaze, "I'm going to give you some water, drink it slow or you're going to choke on it."

After a few moments she lowered the item, growling out her question again, "Where is she?"

The man shook his head, "I don't know, one of those creature's appeared and she hit me with one of those biotic shoves to get me out of the way. Next thing I know is that I can hear her screams and then the bomb detonated just a few moments after." His head dropped, "I fell into one of those thing's tunnels, I managed to pull myself into this building but there was some quake, maybe it was one of those creatures, and then the exit was blocked." His voice dropped to a whisper, "I was so tired."

" _Mother, I've found her. She, she doesn't look good."_

Hannah nodded at Miranda's news, reaching a hand out to rest on the young marine, "Thank you for your help." And then she activated her gauntlet, letting electricity arc from her suit into his, she would feel bad for giving him to Jack's mad scientists but she would need to justify saving Evalyn to him somehow and bribery always helped.

But she could come back and grab him when Evalyn was seen to, and so she took off at a run through the loose soil of Akuze.

Miranda was already hard at work using her medical training in an attempt to stabilize the sheer degree of damage done to the younger human. She had lost both her right limbs, and there was substantial damage done to what armor remained on her right side, but until she cracked it open she had no idea if the flesh underneath was compromised or not.

What was more amazing was that the woman in front of her had dragged herself for nearly a kilometer using only her remaining arm.

But now wasn't the time to reflect on the absurd pain tolerance the subject possessed, now was the time for her to do her job, even if she was only doing this for her Mother's sake.

She dropped the pack she had slung across her shoulders, and began to deploy the hover stretcher so that once Hannah arrived they could move the girl without delay.

Girl, what a silly way to describe an individual who had set most of the records at the N school in Rio.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused her to glance upwards at the oncoming figure of Hannah Shepard, or as The Illusive Man still called her Eva Core. The women's shared mother came to a halt just shy of the prone form of her biological child, but then the woman's eyes hardened as she gestured for Miranda to grab the upper portion of Evalyn's body while she handled the lower half.

The pair tried to make it as smooth as possible but a muted scream of pain still emerged from the damaged human's helmeted head, Hannah's face visibly paled but she quickly schooled her reaction, "Miri, take her back to the ship and start whatever treatment you can. I need to pick up a present for Jack before we take off."

Miranda gave her a brisk nod as she tapped a control causing the platform that Evalyn was situated on to lift upwards, and as she made her way to the ship she didn't deny that the thought of simply eliminating the blonde in her care was not an unattractive option to her.

But Mother would never forgive her if she found out, and Miranda Lawson hated ifs.

S&S

Evalyn awoke to the sound of raised voices, one was unfamiliar and tinged with an unfamiliar accent, while the other was hauntingly the opposite.

The unfamiliar one was speaking, words finally beginning to make themselves understood to the Commander's addled mind, "doing the best I can but this equipment isn't designed for this level of damage, and I sure as hell don't have the ability to create even inadequate cybernetic replacements for her, let alone one's to the sophistication that she requires."

The one she recognized replied, "I just need you to keep her alive, Miri. Steven has a medical frigate in position, you just need to keep her stabilized for a few more hours and then this is all over."

Eva tried to push herself up, realizing that was a mistake when pain suddenly bloomed in her chest, alarms like sirens began to blare around her as a gasp of pain escaped her lips, she vaguely acknowledged the accented voice cursing in the background.

A woman whom most would call gorgeous appeared above her, her hands moving with the swiftness that only came from experience working under pressure. But that was not the figure that drew her attention, instead her eyes bored into a face that was a mirror of her own, Evalyn's mouth tried and failed several times to speak before a whisper emerged, "Mother?"

Hannah leaned down over her, and before the younger Shepard could realize what was happening had pushed an injector against her neck, "Sleep, Evalyn. In the morning this will all be just a bad dream."

S&S

Hackett let out a sigh as he entered the medical frigate, the crew was all his people so he had no worry that word of the transfer that had just occurred would get out. The Warsaw too had been bought off, but he now owed several favors to Admiral Drescher that he wished he didn't.

But he had made a promise to an old friend to look after his child, and if he was being fully honest maybe this incident would finally get the girl to fall in line.

He had spoken to the rest of the Admirality about this, including talking to Harrison Shepard for the first time in nearly half a decade, and they were all onboard with the plan.

Evalyn Shepard was going to put her God given talents to use for the Alliance, one way or another.

S&S

Credit Song: This Time Tomorrow by The Kinks

AN: There you go, intro chapter. Later one's you should expect to be longer but I didn't want to drag this thing out too much.

Obviously Hannah/Eva and Evalyn's relation has been substantially altered, which is going to please some people greatly, other's might hate it but it fits better with how I wanted Hannah to be and I just couldn't pull it off since I had her as too central a part of Evalyn's life.

That being said I really need to work on my consistency, Evalyn was originally inspired as an engineer who was terrible with biotics and sucked at close range. Which somehow morphed into her being a brawler who barely used tech aside for when the plot demanded it once we got in ME 1 proper. I realize all of this was my fault for not having planned this story out better, which is what I've been working on since I last updated.

I was originally going to take down the originals, but there is a quote that I love which paraphrased essentially says that, 'An edit is the most violent of actions that an author can take, and that we mourn the murdered word.' So I'll be keeping them up, if only so you guys can use it to focus Sith like anger at me.

Anyway if you want to curse me out send me a PM and I'll gladly deal with your anger, otherwise use the buttons below because I'm supposed to say that.


	2. Toy soldier

AN: Well I'm glad to see that, as of the moment I'm writing this, that the first chapter has been well received.

Themes will be redone, as obviously the old one's don't match the new take on some characters. You can honestly blame this theme for why I wanted to do this reboot so badly. (Also kind of wish FF would let us insert links)

Character Theme(s):

Hannah/Eva & Evalyn: Red Like Roses Part II by Jeff and Casey Williams

S&S

 _Beacon Technologies stock saw a surge yesterday following a surprise announcement by CEO, Azime Circe. While cybernetic enhancement has become a common sight in many parts of the world, the reveal of fully synthetic bodies that can extend a human life past that of the body has caused both approval and uproar across the globe. There have been thousands of calls to the Government to have this technology banned from all UNAS territories, but civil rights groups have been lobbying hard since the moment the announcement ended to protect their right to reside in whatever body they so choose… (Continued on page A-2)_

-Washington Post, 2061 CE

S&S

 **Four Months After Akuze**

The blonde woman growled as she continued to punish the heavy bag in front of her, sweat caused the loose shirt to cling to her form, though tellingly not her right arm. Finally, with a shout of effort she slammed her right fist into the object of her ire, causing the object to rock on its mount despite the tension being set to the maximum.

She made her way over to where a towel and a bottle of water was waiting for her, grumbling as she moved the artificial arm through several different poses, four months and her replacement limbs still didn't feel right. The leg wasn't as bad, but the arm was a continual work in progress as she was continually uncovering new flaws in the design.

As she retired to her corner of the room she used that opportunity to size up the quartet that had been watching her since she had arrived, most of them looked like marines freshly returned from their first tour, but the one in the front she recognized as Rear Admiral Mikhailovich's son, whose name escaped her at this moment. Which meant he was likely both stupid, and charmingly hostile to both aliens and enhanced humans.

Then again that was the norm this deep in human space, Arcturus rarely allowed aliens on board, and there had yet to be a single alien allowed into the Sol system, at least officially.

Deciding that now was the time to make their move the group of men made their way towards her, the Admiral's son had the type of grin on his face that only those with a complete lack of understanding of their own abilities could possess.

The man leaned back on his heels, "You're, Shepard, right?"

She sighed as she pushed her hair back, letting her mismatched orbs bore into him, it was an unsubtle method to unnerve people, but effective, "Yes, can I help you, Lieutenant?"

The big man gave her a smirk, "The boys wanted to know if you could beat me in a sparring session, we just got back from our tour and none of them were a challenge. I figured if I had the chance I should start at the top."

She knew she shouldn't, but she also really wanted to hit him if she was being honest, "Fine."

The group was obviously surprised by her agreement as the three men behind him began to whisper among themselves as she pushed through them, stopping in the middle of the marked off area she turned to glance back at the man who hadn't moved since she had agreed, "Are you coming, or was that just talk?"

His hangers-on's gave a chuckle at that, which just served to fuel the petty anger that was no doubt coursing through his veins. He stormed across the room to take his position opposite of her as he took up the standard alliance hand to hand stance, Evalyn in turn mirrored him but she was leading with her left instead of her right.

He moved first, a powerful but clumsy swing which she just backed out of, darting in to slam a left into his torso which the large man just shrugged off. He smirked victoriously while her own face was a mask, though she could concede that at least he was in shape, even if he was an idiot.

A crowd was already beginning to form around the pair, though not many were cheering for her she noted, not that she was surprised having become essentially a non-person to the Alliance military since Akuze. And those that had been ambivalent to her had quickly changed sides when her, difficulties, in adjusting had surfaced.

She dodged or blocked his next combination of blows, before hooking her left leg behind his resulting in the overextended marine falling face first into the mat. She moved a few paces back as she let him get to his feet, her face reflecting how bored she felt about this fight so far.

Her opponent glared at her as he pushed himself to his feet, a growled question emerging from his mouth, "Do you plan on fighting?"

"Do you plan on making me?" She was fairly certain it was her emotionless tone, and not the words themselves that caused him to surge forward with a surprising amount of speed, forcing her reflexes to dictate her action resulting in her blocking the blow on her artificial arm.

The moment she blocked the strike she knew that he realized what he had hit, her injuries had been kept under wraps so it was not something the rank and file knew about. Before he could say anything she lashed out, pushing him back with a series of strikes as she danced inside of his guard.

At least until the mat under her feet shifted and she caught a fist on her chin, she stumbled backwards noting that two of his lackeys were suspiciously near the edge of the mat that had betrayed her, but had little time to bother with that when her opponent surged at her again.

But she was done with this little game, more importantly she was done with being a show for these marines, and so she caught the oncoming fist with her replacement appendage, yanking him forward so that he stumbled past her only to be knocked to the ground with a swipe from her leg.

"Stay down. This match is done."

She could hear him already pushing himself to his feet, a sigh escaping her lips as she was forced to deal with someone who just couldn't handle their own failings. She turned to regard the man, noting that he was bleeding from his nose, likely having hit the mat badly from his fall. His eyes had the type of anger in them that caused people to do stupid things, and as he opened his mouth she knew she wasn't going to be disappointed, "Fucking, synthetic bitch, this match is done when I say it's done."

That stopped her cold, as a flare of anger burst to life from her chest. She found herself wordlessly propelled towards him as her pulse throbbed inside of her skull, casually catching the punch that he threw at her. But stupid to the extreme he just smirked at her, "So you get any other fun bits added along with the arm?"

"Well this can be pretty fun," and with that she squeezed, the man's screams caused the crowd to recoil from the pair, and as he dropped to his knees thanks to the inhuman pressure she was able to apply to the, oh so fragile, bones of his hand, she felt a ghost of a smile form on her face. "I'd demand an apology, but I know that you are too stupid to realize you overstepped." She squeezed again causing another fresh bout of blubbering, "Next time you decide to run that mouth of yours, just remember this moment."

She slammed her left fist into his skull, causing her opponent to slump to the ground like a piece of meat, "If you can remember this moment that is."

Her eyes were drawn to her still trembling fist, noting for the first time the biotic field that had wrapped itself around her hand. She had hoped the flareups would start to fade, but four months and it didn't seem like that was going to be the case.

She turned from the slumped form, and began to make her way towards where her few items in the room lay, noting that the throng of people around the ring hadn't begun to disperse she just kept moving forward, "Either make a hole, or I will." She let her biotics flare intentionally this time for good measure, quickly resulting in people stumbling to get out of the blonde's path.

As she stuffed her things into the bag she had brought with her she quickly made her way out of the room. She just wanted to get back to her room and shower, before she found herself forced to sit and listen to another lecture that Anderson was no doubt going to give her.

S&S

He found her sequestered in the corner of the mess hall glaring at the food in front of her, "It's been almost an hour, Anderson. I think you're getting slow in your old age."

The man in question just chuckled as he slid into the seat across from her, "Your A.I wouldn't tell me where you were."

A frown momentarily flickered on the blonde's normally impassive features, "She's not my A.I, all that I did was forge her chains, it was the Alliance's decision to lock her in this," she gestured vaguely with her cutlery, "prison." Anderson flinched at the monotone that Evalyn spoke in, it was well known that she had strong objections to what had been done to Eliza, but it had been made clear in no uncertain terms to the then Academy student that she could either shackle the A.I or never join the Alliance.

And so she had done it, in fact she had done her job so well that the Alliance had decided to move the A.I from Jump Zero to Arcturus. Eliza currently operated everything from elevators to the station's guardian defenses, all enforced by the myriad of commands and physical blocks that Eva had devised. Few actually knew that she was an A.I, most just thought that she was a collection of extremely sophisticated V.I programs all operating under the same name, in fact most visitors from the Citadel complained about how useless Avina was in comparison to the human construct.

Of course that wasn't to say there wasn't internal debate on how to treat the A.I, the Admiralty was firmly of the opinion that she was merely hardware to be used. In fact, David was quite certain that if they had been able to convince Eva to do the process again they would have a shackled A.I in every base and dreadnought by this point.

Oddly enough it was the politicians for a change that were attempting to grant the A.I some, albeit very limited, rights. Arguing that the Alliance charter did not specify that a being born in the SA had to be organic, and there was no argument that Eliza had been born inside of Alliance held space.

"Anderson, did you come here for a reason?"

The blonde's annoyed tone snapped him out of his reverie, and suddenly reminded of why he came here a sigh came out of the older man's lips, "You know why I'm here."

"I'm afraid I haven't the slightest clue," and from the utter lack of reaction he would have been inclined to believe her, if not for the fact that this was the third such incident in as many months.

"Evalyn, I understand that he did challenge you to the match, but you took it too far, again." His gaze dared her to deny his allegation again, and after a few moments he saw a flash of something in her eyes, "He insulted me."

At that Anderson could only tilt his head, "He insulted you."

"Yes."

The utter lack of concern caused anger to flare in the older man's chest, his fist slamming into the table, "You fractured his skull, Eva."

That sudden anger died just as quickly as there was barely even a flicker of reaction from his momentary loss of control, just that cold dead stare that was all the girl was seemingly able to muster lately, well aside from when she was enraged.

After a few moments of her calculated starring she moved her left hand to her temple and started rubbing, her reply coming out softer than he expected, "I know that I shouldn't have, David," she bowed her head and closed her eyes, as he saw the steady rise and fall of her chest he realized she was slowly going through those old breathing exercises Hannah had taught her, "He called me, well I'm sure you know what he called me, or at least have a pretty good guess. Then all I could feel was the anger, like fire in my veins and I just had to get it out." Her eyes finally opened again and there was a flicker of some life in them, "The flareup wasn't intentional, I lost control of my biotics, again."

Anderson couldn't help but nod sympathetically, the myriad of problems that had come out of Akuze didn't limit themselves to just the physical damage, and the psychological wounds, the girl's biotics had been behaving erratically and the Alliance's 'specialists' had no idea what was the cause. And Evalyn refused to have an Asari look at her, which left only a handful of specialists in the galaxy who could treat her but since she was grounded in Alliance space that wasn't happening.

"Have you thought any about what that Doctor told you?"

A scoff came from the blonde, "You mean that my flares are from suppressed trauma," she gave a harsh laugh, "trust me if there is something that I'm not suppressing I'd be surprised," and while the flippant remark was more normal for the blonde he could see that there was something else she wanted to say.

"Eva, what is it." The blonde was quiet for a few minutes, obviously debating internally before she began to speak, almost haltingly so, "My Mom. I saw her."

Internally David sighed, this was not the type of news he had been hoping to hear, "I'm not sure I understand, do you mean you saw her recently? Or did you see her on Akuze?"

"Akuze, and no, or maybe yes," the last bit was practically whispered before an angry growl emerged from her throat, "I don't fucking know okay! Whenever I try to remember it seems to fade away even further, but then I'll wake up from some fucking dream, and for a few moments I can see her leaning above me clear as day."

Anderson just let her continue, before almost quietly interjecting, "Child, you were on the brink of death, we've all wished to see our loved ones when it looks like we aren't going to make it."

The sound of tortured metal filled his ears as he realized that Evalyn's hand was warping the table it was gripped on to, "This wasn't the figment of a girl with fucking Mommy issues, David! She was there, it was on a ship, and, she looked older, and her hair was different. Why the hell would I imagine my Mother with different hair!"

He was aware that the rest of the room had suddenly focused their attention on the pair following the outburst, but he paid them no mind.

Instead he could only shake his head at the content of the shout, he knew that Hannah's death had hit Evalyn hard but he had thought, hoped really, that she was past this by now. The girl had sworn that following her Father's death she had seen her Mother, and now yet another sighting. And as much as he didn't want to be the one to do this, he knew he had to before she did something incredibly stupid, "Evalyn, you were picked up on Akuze by the Alliance," he paused before gently adding, "And this isn't the first time that you've seen her, is it. You remember that right?"

Mismatched eyes glared at him, obviously going back to the arguments that had raged between herself and the tag team of David and her Grandfather. Her words emerged in little more than a hiss, "She, was, there."

Then in a move that proved that, despite her own complaints, the girl was having no trouble adapting to her new limbs Evalyn had slipped out from the table, and was halfway to the exit by the time Anderson had made it to his feet.

"Evalyn, you can't just walk away from a truth you don't want to admit to."

She turned to glare at him as she reached the exit, and he would admit that if it wasn't for the wrong colored eyes it was like Hannah was back from the grave, "I won't force myself to accept what you see as the truth, but I can certainly walk away."

Her artificial limb caressed the door's access panel as she walked through, and he realized what she had done the moment the door slammed downward, an angry red symbol proclaiming him to be locked on the opposite side of the doorway that he wanted to be.

An annoyed sigh emerged from his lips, "Eliza, could you please open this door for me."

S&S

Evalyn made her way towards where she knew Hackett's office was, what few soldiers were on duty simply accepted her presence while the few commands she tapped into her Omni began the process of wiping her presence from any non-organic surveillance.

It was their fault that she could do it after all, did they really think she hadn't added her own backdoors to the system when they installed Eliza into Arcturus.

Her footsteps faltered as she made her way past Admiral Lindholm's office, her Father's former office. Shaking her head irritably she resumed her march towards her goal, Hackett's office was of course the furthest down this corridor. And she noted a single guard stood in front of the Admiral's office, and he was obviously squirming as he saw her approach.

"How can I help you, Ma'am?"

He shifted uncomfortably as she starred at him for before replying, "I need to speak with the Admiral, is he in?"

"Uh, no, he's out." At her raised eyebrow the man stammered, "I mean, he's out, Ma'am."

She sighed, "Well would it be possible for me to wait inside for him, my biotics are acting up and I'd prefer not to have a flareup because of all this noise," she made a show of wincing at a particularly loud noise in the distance, "migraines."

The sheer level of fear that simple sentence drew from the man was honestly somewhat pathetic, but it was more then enough for him to open the door and step aside in an effort to get away from what was viewed as modern day witchcraft.

She probably should have felt guilty, but she didn't.

The moment the door shut she brought up the hall's security cameras in her HUD to make sure she wasn't caught, and satisfied she was covered on that end she went to work.

It was the work of only a few moments to get into Hackett's terminal, the Alliance put far too much stock on their physical safeguards. Then again who would think that a Shepard would be hacking into a man who had been a primary figure in her life, she knew that she was having a lot of trouble reconciling her actions with her sense of duty.

But she needed these answers.

She limited her search to files that were processed during the time period just shortly before Akuze, the frown that had begun forming only deepening as she realized the sheer amount of paperwork the Admiral dealt with on a daily basis.

"Think, Eva." Her eyes lit up when she remembered that she had supposedly been picked up by an Alliance medical frigate, "Transfer orders."

Her eyes narrowed as she realized the frigate's position had been shifted, "When did he contact them?" Her eyes scanned the log of calls but came to a screeching halt as she read a single innocuous line.

 **Captain Carol Danvers**.

The name of her Mother's favorite superhero, and the address listed had the hallmarks of being a false return. She knew that this wouldn't convince anyone, but she didn't care about convincing anyone but herself, and this was enough for her to think that maybe she hadn't snapped as much as she had thought.

But that didn't change the fact she couldn't make sense of any of this, the more pieces she found the less sense the puzzle made, "What the fuck is going on."

She shook her head in annoyance as she pulled whatever data she could relating to this 'Danvers,' before she shut down the system and wiped all traces of her search, no need to push her luck.

She opened the door and briefly glanced at the marine, "I'm feeling much better now, so I think I'll just go and track him down myself. I suspect it will be faster this way too." She flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she past by him, she had had very little reason to smile these past few months.

S&S

She was itching to tear into the data she had just acquired, but as she rounded the corner towards her quarters she stopped cold. Two fully armored marines, her eyes narrowed as she amended her assessment, two N5's were waiting outside of her door.

She stiffened her posture as she schooled her features into that imperious look her Father had always pulled off so effortlessly, and began to approach the pair.

One of them spotted her and tapped the arm of the other, gesturing her way, the man who spotted her speaking up, "Commander, we are to bring you to meet with Admiral Hackett."

She frowned internally, he shouldn't have been able to detect her intrusion this fast, and she had no intention of giving herself away if this was a ploy to get her to react, "Alright then, lead the way," she pulled up his service record from the passive hacking program she constantly had active, "Major."

His posture tightened at that, but he gave her a terse nod as he took a position to her right, while his partner was on her left. And as they made their way through the station she had to wonder what the sight must have looked like, a blonde woman in civilian clothes being escorted by two special forces members, both of whom were fully aware that she was the more dangerous individual, and constantly kept shooting glances at her if she made any move other than walking forward.

Then again maybe they had simply heard rumors of her occasional losses of control, soldiers did love their gossip.

They were waved through several checkpoints as they reached the nerve center of Alliance Command, aides could be seen dashing with memo's too sensitive to be trusted to electronic communications. A trait that the rest of the Council races saw as adorable, but there was a reason that the Shadow Broker had only gained limited access to the SA.

It was far harder to gain access to information when it only existed in one location, that wasn't to say leaks hadn't occurred. The Okuda incident was one example, though she had been tinkering with her own variant of the Graybox tech ever since then, the only thing stopping her from implementing it was that it would push her over the acceptable limit for cybernetics.

Fucking Red Line legislation.

They halted at a non-descript door that led into the room that the Admiralty met in, which meant that this likely wasn't about her little visit to Hackett's office. He would have wanted to meet with her privately if that was the case, he wouldn't risk her airing his secrets in front of the other Admirals.

She gave a small nod to her escorts, civility never hurt anyone after all, and palmed the door interface.

The door itself shut behind her the moment she had crossed the threshold, and she found herself on the opposite end of the table from Admirals Hackett, Lindholm, and Drescher.

Hackett she had known since she was born, the man had been her Father's best friend and confidant. But he also was a man who weighed the odds constantly to ensure that the SA came out on top, and he had never been shy when it came to skirting or outright breaking the rules when it suited him.

Lindholm was from Eden Prime and had the size and build of her Nordic ancestors, she was also bloodthirsty to put it bluntly. The woman was a skilled tactician, and had managed to achieve a N6 ranking before deciding to leave the program when she was offered First Fleet following her Father's death. But she lived for combat, and if she couldn't have the real stuff she was doing simulations, or war games. The First Fleet was probably the most formidable of the SA's forces, a fact made all the more impressive thanks to the fact that she was made up of the oldest ships in service.

The Turian's loved her.

Drescher meanwhile was the head of Second Fleet, and had been the Admiral who had liberated Shanxi from the Turians. She had been involved in the negotiations originally but had quickly ended up excusing herself after she had ended up trying to strangle a Turian Captain. It would later come to light that the Captain in question had been one of those involved in some, less than strategic strikes upon soft targets during the occupation.

Drescher had also met her wife, one of the Asari diplomats, during that time. Of course they had been forced to sign numerous agreements before the SA would allow her to marry an Asari and keep her commission, scuttlebutt had it that neither of them were allowed to leave SA space without an approved escort.

Hackett, of course, spoke first, "Please take a seat, Commander." She walked up and took the sole remaining chair, which meant that her Grandfather and Admiral Singh were not expected to attend, and found herself directly opposite of Hackett while the other two Admiral's sat at his flanks.

Drescher glanced at her, everything from her posture to her tightly braided gray hair screamed control, the woman's dark brown eyes boring through her, "You know why you are here, Commander?"

"I have to assume it has to do with the incident from this morning, Ma'am."

A sigh came from the woman, "It isn't just about that incident, Commander. This is simply the latest in a string of such events, and you have shown no sign of improvement these past four months."

"Not that we're saying Mikhailovich's kid didn't deserve it, if he is just half as annoying as his Daddy." Both Hackett and Drescher shot their fellow Admiral a warning glare who quickly quieted.

Hackett looked directly at her, "Evalyn, we think that a position less stressful might be better for your recovery. You have a gift when it comes to machinery, perhaps it is time to focus on your strengths and leave combat to those," he left the unspoken sentiment hanging. Before Lindholm added, "Shepard, I respect all the work you went through to get that N7 designation, but eventually we all have to admit that our life has a course that is different from what we envisioned."

The Commander's eyes narrowed, "You mean to say that you would prefer me to toil away at R&D, making whatever toys you lot wanted."

"Yes." Drescher's answer was cold, but truthful, and Eva couldn't help but sigh in response, "And if I refuse?"

Lindholm shot her a look that bordered on pitying, "Then you'll be discharged as being mentally unfit for duty, you've given us more than enough ammunition to pull it off, Shepard."

"And there is always the Red Line legislation, the exact method of interpreting when one is over the limit can be rather, flexible." Drescher's threat hung in the tension filled air as Evalyn kept her gaze squarely on Hackett, her voice subtly betraying the shock she was feeling, "And what does Harrison have to say about this."

"It was his idea."

Hackett's statement was like a cold knife to the chest, that her Grandfather would threaten the life she had chosen just to get her in the gilded cage he had been trying to stick her in since her Father died.

"No."

The trio of Admiral's glanced at her with some confusion, before she added more emphatically, "My answer is no. I don't care if you destroy me in the press, ruin my career, you can even convince the entirety of human space that I'm some kind of monster that needs to be controlled," she was surprised as she felt a smirk pull at her lips, "because we all know who the real monsters in this room are."

She stood up, still sporting the same smirk, "I'll assume that I'm to be escorted to my quarters?"

S&S

The trip back was rather uneventful, but she used that time to plan her next move. It was becoming painfully obvious that something had happened on Akuze that the Alliance, or at the very least Hackett, didn't want anyone finding out about, and that if she planned on doing anymore digging on that subject she was going to have to get off this station, maybe even leave SA space entirely.

The idea of abandoning the Alliance sat uneasily with her. Her family had dedicated themselves to serving the organization, she had been fully prepared to do so as well, but she also had never been one to simply accept the answers given to her.

Her guards stopped just outside of her quarters, "Ma'am, you are to stay inside with the door locked, any attempts to leave your quarters will be met with force. If you need to leave for any reason please inform Eliza, and if the request is approved we will escort you." She just ignored him as she made her way through the door, and the moment it shut she began the process of pulling the gear she had hidden about the room.

She quickly assembled a pistol whose components had been hidden inside various items throughout the room, while she had hoped to never have a reason to use it she had also been betrayed too deeply in the past to not have a backup plan.

She pulled on the lightly armored bodysuit that would in normal circumstances go under her armor, but lacking that she instead pulled out a pair of beat up jeans that would disguise the thicker layer underneath, before slipping into the combat boots that sat near the door along with a few other pairs of shoes. She yanked open her dresser and pulled out a loose black shirt, before yanking on a light white jacket which was equipped with a holster hidden in the lining on the right side.

Content with that she yanked the desk in her room to the side, and used her metal limb to pry off the panel behind it before reaching in to yank out the bag hidden inside. Her emergency kit as she called it was stocked with medical supplies, credit chits that were linked to a couple of hidden accounts she kept from the taxman, and a half-dozen false identities good for a single use in the SA, if she got to Citadel space quickly enough she could probably extend their lifespan significantly thanks to the laxer security.

She slipped into the bathroom and pulled her hair from its ponytail letting it fall loose, she got to work brushing it over to one side so that it covered her cybernetic eye. Had she more time she probably would have tried dying it, but this was the best she was going to get at this exact moment.

She had just re-entered the main living when a voice came out across the room, "Going on a trip, Evalyn."

Her head swivelled until it landed on Anderson who was standing near where she had tossed the bag, the object in question hanging loosely in his grip. She took a few steps toward him, "Give me the bag, Anderson," she moved to take it from him but he pulled the bag out of her reach.

"This is a mistake, child."

"It's my mistake to make then!" The outburst seemed to surprise them both, but she recovered fast enough to wrest the bag from his grip, "I'm not asking permission, and I don't give a damn about the fallout, but I will not be some goddamn windup toy for the Alliance."

She took a step back as she saw the hurt register on his face, her voice coming out a hair above a whisper, "I'm sorry."

Then she struck, knowing that he would be emotionally compromised because she was too at that moment. David had taught her most of what she knew about combat, after all he had been the closest thing she had to a parent after her Dad's death, and that meant he always had a blind spot when it came to her.

Which was why there was no attempt on his part to block, or counter. Just her hitting him, and him collapsing to the ground, leaving her standing above his prone body, "I'm sorry about that too." She could feel her eyes begin to grow damp as she realized what she had just done, but a new voice shocked her out of the emotional response.

"Assault on a ranking Alliance officer detected, please stand down Eva or I will be forced to alert the guards."

She dropped her head down as she sighed, "I'm sorry for a lot of stuff today it seems," before raising both her head and her voice, "Execute override Echo Mike Sierra, hard reboot into safe mode."

They really should have known better than to have her shackle an A.I.

Placing Eliza in safe mode would ensure that the system would run as normal, but her more advanced subroutines, and the Alliance's, or anyone's really, ability to give orders to her was removed until they rebooted her back out of it.

Which would take them roughly four hours.

She palmed open the door and quickly lashed out a kick at the closest marine's knee, which quickly bent at the wrong angle thanks to the force her artificial limb could dish out. The other marine was still in the process of bringing up their gun, only to have the hand that latched on to the weapon turn it to so much scrap as the metal gave way to her grip. She let out a scream of effort as she summoned her biotics and slammed the strongest lift field she could on to the soldier, which in this confined space more akin to watching a pinball shoot upwards only to then rebound right back downwards.

She reeled a little from expending so much energy so quickly, but she managed to land a wobbly kick to the skull of her initial target to finish the fight.

And once she had dragged their unconscious bodies into her former quarters there was no evidence that anything was amiss, well aside for the human shaped bump in the ceiling, but overall, a satisfactory outcome.

S&S

She moved across the station at a brisk pace, using her knowledge of the stations access ways to avoid detection, quickly making her way to the civilian side of the station. At this point she had to slip out into the busier halls that were bustling with people going about their daily lives, and it also forced her to pull on a pair of black gloves to hide her cybernetic limb. Unlike in the military where cybernetics were rare, but not entirely uncommon, most civilians could go their whole lives and never see a single piece of cyberware.

Her feet carried her to one of the busier spaceports, named after some Alliance founder whose name didn't ring a bell for her, and she was just about to buy a ticket when she realized someone was sending her a communication through an old relay network she had setup on the station.

She let out a sigh as she realized who is must be, and she moved to a quiet corner so as to not give away where she was, "Hello, Cora."

" _Evalyn, what the fuck do you think you are doing? Eliza just went into safe mode, and while the idiots on duty might not have noticed I did."_

She winced, Lieutenant-Commander Cora Addison had once been both her best friend, and rival. A relationship that had ended explosively after Evalyn had been targeted during their graduation ceremony from Arcturus Academy.

Most of the graduating class had died, those who survived blamed her, as did Eva herself as the Asari who had been behind the attack had also been her lover.

Now that she thought about it, that was probably the longest sentence Cora had spoken to her since then, "I'm leaving, Cora. You can go ahead and inform the higher ups, but I'll be long gone." She debated just leaving it there, but her mouth got ahead of her brain, "And I'm sorry, I'm not sure if I ever said it to you, and I know that an apology is worthless. But I am sorry. Goodbye, Cora."

She shut off the link as she manually disabled the relay system, Cora would probably have it up and running again in a matter of minutes but every second she could buy was precious. She approached a nearby kiosk and grabbed a spot on the quickest departing transport to Earth, even deciding to spoil herself with first class.

Because after today, she needed a drink.

S&S

She pulled the coat closer around her body in an effort to keep out the cold that permeated the Spring air, her footsteps slowed the closer she got to her destination until she finally stood in front of a pair of graves, her parents' to be more specific.

"Hi, Dad." She bent down to knock off some persistent snow from the headstone, "You are, well you're probably furious at me, and that's okay. But my life, is mine, and I'm going to live it how I see fit. I hope that you can understand that, and maybe even be proud of me for doing what I think is right."

She sighed, even in death she still felt like she wasn't good enough for him, "Good talk," she muttered to herself.

She shuffled awkwardly before glancing at the other grave of the pair, "Mom, I don't know if you are dead. I, I kind of hope you are, because I don't think I'm strong enough to handle you being alive." She angrily wiped away the line of tears that had begun to fall, a whispered confession stolen from her lips by the wind, "Why wasn't I enough for you to stay."

She continued her vigil, she wasn't sure if she was actually expecting an answer but she stayed there until something inside of her clicked. That part of her brain that reminded her that the Alliance would eventually figure out what ship she had departed on, and so she began the trek back down to where she had left her rental vehicle.

She simply tapped in the address of the hanger that was her destination, feeling no need to manually pilot the sky car to her destination. The area in question was an old industrial zone that was too far from any exploitable resource to be worth repairing once most people had been forced by environmental collapse to move to the massive mega cities that dotted the globe. The Shepard's were one of the exceptions, maintaining a compound in the northern reaches of UNAS territory, though there were so many restrictions and hoops they had to abide by that her Father had always grumbled that he was going to burn the place down when he retired.

As the transport touched down she slid out, pulling her bag which was sitting on the passenger seat out with her. She tapped a command sending her temporary conveyance back to the depot, her new ride was inside after all.

She ripped the corroded chains off of the main door with a single motion from her arm, she would normally enter from the side door but today she was going to need a much bigger doorway.

The giant door squealed in protest as she shoved it open, the door's workings having been damaged by the intense acid rain that often ravaged the area. And as light began to pour into the interior of the hanger with each step she took, a gleaming white and blue ship was revealed.

The Shanxi had begun her life as a courier ship, before being modified for General William's personal use prior to the First Contact War. After that it had fallen into her Mother's hands, and when she had died it had been one of the few ways Evalyn felt that she could connect with the now absent woman.

Hannah had always been tinkering with the ship, and her daughter had been no different, in fact most of her time off had been spent in this hanger. Either working on the ship, or on other projects, which reminded her of the other item she was here to pick up.

She moved over to an empty corner of the hanger, gently feeling along the floor for the subtle groove that was hidden below several layers of dust. Finally, she found it and with a grunt of effort heaved up on the metal panel, revealing the safe she had hidden there long ago.

She pulled the glove off her left hand and pushed her palm on to the biometric scanner, before entering in the code, a few moments passed before the safe soundless slid open. She pushed aside a few sentimental keepsakes that she had put in here when she was younger, nostalgia having forced her to keep them, and finally her right hand gripped upon the object she was hunting for.

The core in her hand was, at least at this time, her greatest achievement. The Intelligence housed inside was effectively a blank slate, designed to over time acquire the knowledge that it was taught. Her attempt to solve the problem that so many of the Alliance's A.I attempts had fallen into was that an intelligence intrinsically reflected the nature of their purpose.

Eliza had been designed to oversee the functions of a base, or space station, as such she was personable and enjoyed interactions with her charges. But the same principle was why the Alliance's attempts to create a combat A.I had been mixed to say the least, often times they were violent to the extreme, and attempts to shackle those impulses had led to such drops in performance that multiple V.I's working in concert were more effective.

And so she had created an A.I that you could raise, teach it not just it's primary task overtime but ensure that it could comprehend why certain actions were not to be utilized. Of course it would take longer, and the A.I would start off even lower than a V.I, but the potential was there.

"I always wondered what else you had been up to when you came here."

She whirled toward the sound, the pistol clearing the holster as she pulled it into her left, aiming it squarely at the head of her Grandfather who stood at the entrance of the hanger.

He was an old man, but he still stood tall and proud, his eyes a dull gray in this lighting as they bored into his only living relative.

"Always hated that ship, should have had it destroyed before you started tinkering with it."

She shot it a quick glance before returning her gaze to him, "Dad would never have let you."

A chuckle came from the elderly man, "No, I suppose he wouldn't have. Your Mother had him wrapped around her finger, even after she died."

Her hand tightened unconsciously on the pistol at his statement, her steps were measured as she slowly made her way towards the ship. Her cybernetics connecting with the ship, and commenced its warmup sequence, "I hope you didn't take anyone with you."

He shook his head, "I came alone, I would prefer not to have any casualties on my conscience." He noted the ladder that extended from the side of the ship, "Do you really intend on walking away from your legacy."

"Legacy!" Her strides lengthened as anger propelled her forward, "The Alliance is not my Legacy! It was my duty! Up until you tried to turn me into you little toy soldier!" She halted so close to him that they were but a single step apart, "My legacy is what I choose it to be," she held up the core in her hand, "and this, this is just the first fucking step!"

A fist swung out and caught her across the jaw, but she had sparred with him enough to dance away from the follow through, cursing herself for allowing her anger to make her vulnerable. With the added distance she had brought the pistol back to the task of keeping her Grandfather in his place, the man's anger practically emanating from him, "You would turn your back on everything that your family has stood for, and for what? What is driving you to turn away from your own species, because trust me Eva there is no happy ending on the road you are heading down."

She didn't fight the sad smile that formed on her features, "I stopped believing in happy endings when I was seven."

By this time, she had wrapped one hand around the ladder, and slowly made her way up it once the ship informed her that all systems were green. She halted just before she dropped into the cockpit, debating on how to say goodbye, but with a sigh she just shouted across the hanger, "And if I were you I would keep a closer watch on Hackett, he's up to something."

The moment the hatch closed she sighed to herself, "Should have said something nice, Eva."

S&S

Nihlus groaned as a ping from his omni woke him, to be more precise the blue elbow of the person the ping had woken up was what woke him up, but cause and effect, "Nihlus here."

Jondum Bau's face appeared on his omni, and while Nihlus had video on his side disabled he knew from the old Salarian's smirk that he knew who else was there with him, "Good news, Nihlus. Your application for Evalyn Shepard has been approved."

That was surprising enough to get the Turian to sit up, he hadn't expected anything to come from that application for another couple of years, probably when the humans had hopefully calmed down a little and started playing nice.

"What changed?"

The Salarian gave a small nod, his way of noting that that was the correct question to ask, "She's been discharged from the Alliance, the rumors that I have heard claim that she escaped Arcturus, made her way to Earth, then escaped the system before vanishing entirely."

Nihlus groaned, "So what good is her application being approved, I mean we don't have the resources to track down a single human even if she is Spectre materia-" He stopped speaking as he noted that amused smirk that had formed on the amphibian's lips, an annoyed huff escaping the Turian, "They're making me hunt her down aren't they?"

"Indeed."

"Spirits," he rubbed his talons along one of his mandibles, a habit from his youth he still had yet to break, "do we have any leads?" The Salarian just gave an amused shake of his head, "And from all accounts she is more than skilled enough to ensure she leaves no electronic trail to follow," he gave Nihlus an overly wide grin, "Happy hunting, Nihlus."

As the Salarian blinked away the Turian let himself collapse backwards in the now dark room, thumping solidly into the mattress, a voice mocked him in a singing tone coming from the darkness to his right, "Someone got the bitch job."

"Be quiet, Tela."

An amused chuckle came from beside him as her undressed form was illuminated as she tapped a few searches into her omni, "Oh, the girl's got skills, and quite the ass," she noticed the look Nihlus was giving her, "-et." She pouted at him, "It's not my fault that human's get our blood going, their women are exotic Asari. With their pink skin, and their weird crest."

An exasperated sigh came from the Turian, "Hair."

A purr came from the Asari that plopped herself on to his chest, "Hair, that's it. Don't you ever wonder what it must feel like." Nihlus just shook his head, grumpily stating, "No, I can't say that I have."

Tela let out a melodious laugh, "Don't be like that love, I don't get mad at you when you look, you aren't allowed to get made when I do."

The Turian just gave a small nod of acknowledgement, before he cut off the question he knew was coming, "I'm not swapping jobs with you."

A blue hand swatted his chest, "You're no fun."

S&S

Credit Song: Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday performed by Carla White

AN: Huzzah another chapter.

Tela's opinion is something that, I think, has been in some other fics, but I found it weird it never really came up in the games. I mean we know from the bar trio that the Asari are seen as exotic by well seemingly every species, but would humans, specifically women, be seen as exotic by the Asari. Especially given that on top of at least having a somewhat similar anatomy there is no chance of producing an ardat.

Aside from that, expect more Tela and Nihlus, because I'm a horrible person. Also I can't write a not flirty Tela, blame Logical Premise.

Tess' origin has been altered obviously, to more accurately showcase how little of a toss that Evalyn gives about the Citadel A.I conventions.

Support is always appreciated, as are reviews.


	3. A Spectre, and a Lady

AN: So work has been a pain recently which has cut into my weekend writing time, so apologies on that front.

This chapter was supposed to go much farther in terms of plot, but it would have felt rushed so I cut off at what I consider to be a decent middle point.

Song Themes:

Eva Shepard: Comfortable With Hate by Evans Blue

Aria T'Loak: Rock & Roll Queen by The Subways

S&S

 _Regardless of where you stand on human enhancement it can't be denied that Beacon technologies gamble last month has certainly paid off._

 _There were reports of lines forming in front of Beacon clinics worldwide within minutes of the announcement. And those lines show no sign of becoming any shorter now that they have reopened, even with extra staff being added to nearly all locations worldwide._

 _And that demand isn't just for their new line of wholly synthetic bodies, but also their new limb designs, all of which are branded under their new 'Crimson Tech' slogan._

 _CNN's parent company is an affiliate with Beacon Technologies._

 _-CNN, 2061 CE_

S&S

The office was tastefully appointed, made mostly out of dark woods that sucked in the light making the small room seem even smaller, but that was what you got when you were dealing with limited space on board a space station. Plus, it would never due for the Prime Minister of the SA to have too opulent of an office, it would have sent the Colonials the wrong message at a time when relations had still been tense.

That didn't change the fact that Amul Shastri wished they had made it large enough so that he could get past his desk and not upset something. But that wasn't a pressing concern at this moment, the pair of Admirals in front of him was.

Steven Hackett, a man who had proved his worth during the Systems War. And in the intervening years had shown himself to be an individual who could be counted on to get something done, regardless of the ethical implications. Shastri could respect that level of drive, even if he found the man himself somewhat distasteful.

His companion Kastanie Drescher was seated next to him, by all accounts she was a superior officer, and unlike most of the militaries upper echelons she had never received a complaint over anti-colonial sentiment. In fact, she was often viewed as one of the more rational voices inside the military, pushing for the abolishment of special punishments for colonial soldiers, and was one of the few public voices that supported allowing non-humans to become SA citizens.

And so he was at a loss how two highly competent individuals had managed to fuck this situation up as much as they had.

"Four months," he drummed his fingers while the pair realized why they had been summoned, "Four months, and the military is no closer to finding Evalyn Shepard then you were when she, single-handedly might I add, circumnavigated every single safeguard we had in place to ensure that such a thing didn't happen."

Hackett's hands tightened on the hat that was on his lap began opening his mouth to speak, but was silenced by a glare from the older man, "And this wasn't just any woman, this was a woman who had designed the very safeguards that keep this very station running, that ensure a digital entity doesn't simply vent all the atmosphere out of the rooms we are in." His fast slammed into the table, causing a rattle from the objects that littered it's surface, "This is a woman who was involved in numerous black-ops that could see us at war again!"

He let out a sigh as he sank back in his chair, the old leather making minimal fuss as it took up the weight, "This was the woman who you decided to threaten with what essentially amounted to enslavement."

"It was simply to make sure she understood the gravity of the situation." Drescher's voice was controlled, but her clipped tone revealed that she was not appreciating this dressing down.

Hackett for his part was quiet as the Prime Minister let out a dark chuckle, "Oh she seems to have understood the gravity of the situation." He drummed his fingers on his desk, "You two managed to upset a plan that Harrison and I have been working on for a very long time."

He pushed himself up from his seat and made his way carefully past his desk, before making his way to the small bar tucked into the corner. Talking as he went through the process of making his drink, "After her discharge, Evalyn was to go to R&D. While there she was going to make rounds and introductions in district 4 of Vancouver, the final result was that she would run and win the election for a seat in parliament."

Finally finished his preparations he took a drink from the glass now in his hand, savouring the burn as it moved down his throat, "Then in another two, maybe four years I was going to retire, and she was to become the head of the party."

He set the glass down gently before turning to stare down the pair, "You could have had a Shepard as Prime Minister if you had just waited until we were ready, and now you compound that failure with your complete inability to locate her."

He made his way past his desk and back to his chair, "I've dispatched two Case agents after her, you are to give them whatever resources they ask for, is that understood?"

A pair of affirmatives came to his ears, causing him to incline his head in response, "Admiral Drescher you are dismissed, Hackett and I have some other issues to discuss."

A questioning look flashed across the woman's face but she steeled her expression quickly, snapping a quick salute as she left the room. The moment the door clicked behind her Shastri glared at Hackett, "Have you figured out what she took off your terminal yet?"

"No, she covered her tracks well. If that guard hadn't mentioned it to me a week ago I never would have noticed," he stood up making his way to the small bar, "May I?"

A dismissive wave was all the acknowledgment he got, but he poured himself a generous helping of an amber liquid, Shastri being too far away to accurately make out the label from his position, "This might be to our advantage."

A sigh came from the older of the pair, "How could this situation be to our advantage?"

Hackett made his way back across the room, placing the Prime Minister's abandoned drink back in front of him, which was promptly ignored as the Admiral began talking, "There is no way that either Hannah or Jack pass up a chance to snatch up Evalyn, but if we let out a hint that a certain organization with human ties was behind the attack."

"Then she might go after Cerberus, but Evalyn, no matter how skilled she may be, is still just one human. How much damage can she truly do to Cerberus?"

Hackett gave the unattended drink a light shove, causing the Prime Minister to finish off the glass. Which was promptly brought back across the room as the Admiral began the process of refilling it, "There is a rumour, one that I've heard repeated from too many different sources for me to not give it some credit."

He returned swiftly to his seat, both glasses filled once again, "This rumour is that the Council intends on giving Evalyn a shot at becoming a Spectre."

The stopped Shastri, and as he glanced down he realized that his hand was shaking slightly, "A spectre?"

Hackett gave a nod as he tilted back his glass, "The kicker is that her application was put in by Kyrik, Saren's protégé."

The Prime Minister stopped the shaking by grasping the cool glass in his hand, they had been lobbying for a Spectre the moment they had been granted an embassy. There had never been a non-council Spectre since the Quarians had been exiled, and they had been close to becoming a Council race before they managed to destroy themselves.

He allowed himself a pleased smile as he sank back into the chair, taking a drink of the perfectly prepared drink, "I suppose I can always delay my own retirement. We'll still of course have to send out those Case agents, appearances."

"Appearances." Hackett finished off his drink as he stood up, pulling on his cap as he did so, "Prime Minister." Shastri nodded to the Admiral as he gave a quick salute, and once the door was closed he took another drink from the glass in his hand.

"Eliza."

A figure materialized from the projector hidden in the desks interior, the A.I had settled on an almost Victorian era look, though he had never understood why. The digital entity's pale skin only further served to make him believe that the A.I was based off of a vampire but it wasn't exactly a question you could ask without coming off as incredibly rude.

"Yes, Prime Minister, how may I be of service?"

He set down the drink, "Inform Quinn to release the data that Hackett and I were talking about, also let him know that I want Kenji and Valerie on this mission."

The small figure gave a slight bow, the digital skirts ruffling as she did so, "Of course, I'll see to it immediately."

"I'm sorry for the atmosphere comment, Eliza. I was simply trying to prove a point."

The A.I's cool gaze unnerved him somewhat, but he had long since gotten used to it, "Don't worry, Sir. I understand completely."

S&S

Nihlus steeled himself as he approached the office at the end of the hall, he hadn't wanted to do this, but after months of fruitless searching he had found his hand forced to turn to more experienced help. As Shepard was either more skilled at hiding then he was at hunting, or somehow Bau had made the human up just to madden him.

The fact that the Salarian was always smirking at him only added more fuel to his paranoia.

Honestly the idea that Shepard was somehow an elaborate ruse was far more attractive than what he was about to do, but what use was pride to him anyway? After all it wasn't like he had much to begin with, and so he tapped the office's panel, "Saren, it's Nihlus. I need your help."

The door slid open a few moments later, revealing the silver Turian still seated at his desk, "Nihlus," his mentor's tone was scornful to say the least, but he still gestured at one sole other chair in the room, "Take a seat."

Saren's office was situated in the heart of the main Spectre office in the Citadel Tower, he and Bau being the only two Spectres who routinely made appearances before the Council needed a physical location hide from the sycophants that worked in the tower. The office was unadorned, and unlike most individuals the Turian had opted to not have one of the walls converted to display images, simply stating he preferred the bare metal.

His mentor continued working away at the case before him, sharp eyes glancing at the various files scattered across the otherwise empty desk. While most would have taken offense, Nihlus didn't. He knew of course that Saren was doing it on purpose, the older of the pair was perhaps the worst example of his species when it came to attitude, but he always had to respect the sheer amount of work Saren put into being a Spectre.

Tela enjoyed playing the spy, and had hinted from time to time that her accepting the Spectre position had been less than voluntary. Most of the others that he had met simply wanted to serve their respective species to the best of their ability, while a smaller segment just wanted the chance to do whatever they wanted.

Saren though, he saw himself as the only thing between a functional galaxy, and complete chaos. He put in more time, more effort, and frankly pushed himself to illogical extremes to keep to that ideal. That isn't to say he was a paragon, quite the opposite in fact, but when you needed someone to make the tough call, you could count on Saren to make it.

Finally, with a sigh the senior of the pair glanced up from his work, "What do you want, Nihlus?"

Nihlus winced from the older Turian's tone, guess he was still pissed off about that whole Shepard application thing, "I'm having difficulty tracking down, Shepard. I was hoping you would have some insight."

He was expecting rage, instead he just got an annoyed glare, "I knew the Mother, not the whelp."

Despite Saren's attempt to bury it, some rumours had made it to the Spectres about what Desolas had gotten into on Palaven. Truthfully Nihlus had no idea which ones were accurate, if any of them were. There was however a single fact that was in them all, two humans had been brought to Palaven shortly after the Relay 314 incident, one of which had been Hannah Shepard, then going by Eva Core.

It was a shame she had passed away only seven years later; the woman would have been a formidable Spectre.

"So, you have no idea of any contacts Hannah could have had out in Citadel Space, no one that Shepard might by lying low with." That statement earned a reproachful look from Saren, who just shook his head, "You really are hopeless unless you are shooting something, Nihlus."

The older Turian bent over and opened a drawer on his right, pulling out a datapad he flicked it across the table to the younger of the pair, "She's been covering her tracks constantly, but if you know where to look the absence of something is just as noticeable as if it were in plain sight." He reached over and tapped the screen causing it to shift to a highlighted map of Citadel Space, "She's been taking jobs from a wide variety of both sources and locations, which means she must have transport of her own, and based on her reported paranoia I doubt she has something above a two-person craft. A larger vessel would require a crew, and she won't trust her life in someone else's hands."

Nihlus glanced up from the pad, "How do you know that?"

Saren just chuckled in response, "Because I wouldn't."

Nihlus lowered his gaze back down to the pad, frowning as he looked through the jobs the human had taken on, "All of these people are information brokers," he amended his statement as he read the last few entries, "except these two, why does she need two retired STG agents?"

Saren had pulled a knife from somewhere and was sharpening his talons, which meant he was getting bored with the interruption, "If you want to catch your prey don't try to catch them while they are moving, wait for them to expose themselves when they go for sustenance."

Nihlus nodded in understanding, holding up the datapad he asked, "Can I keep this."

"By all means, just remember that you owe me a favour now."

Nihlus didn't let himself groan until he was outside the office, owing Saren a favour was never good.

S&S

Eva frowned as she waited in the dimly lit office, her last job had directed her to a young Salarian researcher who had been hired by a relatively new start-up on Illium. He had already been on her list as a having possible STG connections, and the latest bit of intel she had acquired had confirmed her suspicion as well as his connection to her target.

After her escape from Alliance space she had hacked into her own medical records, convinced that she had not been informed of the full extent of her condition, and she had been right.

She had brain damage. Along with some other, less pressing problems.

Her body had developed numerous new eezo nodes, likely thanks to the explosion she had triggered on Akuze. While most of them were small and thus added little to her overall power some were located in areas that were less than optimal, such as her brain.

A single node was currently putting pressure on her left amygdala, which from what she had been able to glean from the extranet handled her ability to process positive feelings, the ability to suppress one's emotions, and was an important part of how the human brain decided to assign trust.

It had taken her a while to calm down after she read that, but she soon had figured out a plan of action. She didn't think it would be possible to have the node removed without potentially doing even more damage, but a few modifications to her graybox prototype could allow it to handle the emotional suppression. Her decreased ability to feel positive emotions was something she was just going to have to deal with for now, and the fact that she found herself unable to trust anyone right now was probably for the best, betrayal always hurt less when you were expecting it.

Which just left handling the node itself, and equipping the implant with a small localized damping field should theoretically stop the node from being able to activate.

But she still needed someone to install the device, which meant a skilled surgeon with experience in installing cybernetics, and they needed to be both discreet and have no alliance connections.

Which was why she had tracked down Maelon, and while he was intelligent even for Salarian standards she didn't need smart. She needed brilliant.

And so as the door opened she slipped further into the shadows, her hand pulling the pistol from its position on her hip. The weapon had been covered in a matte black finish to avoid her being detected in the near pitch black office, she didn't want to give herself away before she was ready.

Maelon was obviously stressed over something though it didn't seem related to his current employment, she had observed him drinking heavily alone in his office twice in the past four days. She had no idea what demon's the amphibian was trying to banish, nor did she honestly care, after all if it made him more careless all the better for her.

The light flicked on and the Salarian recoiled from her now illuminated form so quickly that he toppled over a nearby chair, his lithe form darting for the gun under the desk which she had found earlier, "The gun's gone, Maelon. Now stand up and let's have a talk, like civilized people."

The Salarian pushed himself form the floor with an annoyed sigh, dusting off the dirt that covered his outfit seemingly nonplussed by the situation, "So who sent you, was it the Broker, STG?" She let out a soft laugh as she pointed at the chair with her pistol, and catching her hint he dropped into the seat.

She moved out from her corner, keeping the pistol trained on him as she moved, "Let's just say I'm an independent agent, I'm tracking down someone that you are familiar with. Doctor Mordin Solus."

A laugh broke out from the alien in front of her, "Him? You go to all this trouble just to find out where that fool is? Why do you even think I know where he's exiled himself to."

A predatory grin formed on her lips, "Because I have two other members of whatever black project you and Solus were involved in telling me that you know where he is, and trust me they weren't in a position to lie to me. Just like you aren't," her arm blurred as she shifted her aim to his shoulder and fired twice, causing the Salarian to topple from the chair he had occupied. She slowly moved around the desk knowing that the two of them were the last one's in the building within earshot of both the shots, and Maelon's screams.

"Let me put some pressure on that for you," her cybernetic foot pressed heavily on to the wound she had just made, "Now, where is Solus, Maelon?"

S&S

Hannah sighed as she made her way through the station, she had just gotten back from fixing the latest in a string of bad cells and honestly she didn't want to deal with Jack right now. Yet here she was, waiting outside while he was conferencing with yet another of his project leads, she swore for each one that went rogue he started up another two.

Finally, the redhead who was typing away at a terminal glanced up, "He's ready to see you now."

She just ignored the, thing, sitting there at the desk. Why Jack kept it around was beyond her, she liked to think of herself as rather progressive for a human but even she felt that there were lines that shouldn't be crossed.

But she had expressed her opinion on that matter and it had been ignored, as usual. So she just kept moving forward like she always did and entered Jack's office.

The office in question, which was honestly something that a supervillain in one of her comics would build, was vacant except for the occupied chair in the middle of the room. Her measured stride quickly closed the distance as her feet clicked against the reflective panels. Her hand snaking out to snatch the datapad that he lazily held up for her to take once she had gotten close enough, blue eyes quickly began skimming as Jack began to speak, "Your Daughter has been busy again, Eva."

That was somewhat of an understatement, since she had left the SA Evalyn had appeared like a vengeful spirit, full of wrath, and violence. Only to time and again disappear back into the void, hidden behind her cloud of technical skills. It truthfully filled the older blonde with a sense of pride as her child evaded all attempts to track her down, but they were still in the dark as to her motives.

The attacks were all at the behest of other parties and they were always in exchange for information, but they had yet to discover what it was Evalyn was looking for. She let out a sigh, Jack obviously had figured out a connection, this was his area of expertise after all, "I give up, what is it that I'm supposed to be seeing here?"

Jack took a drag from the cigarette in his hand before replying, "She went after a Salarian named Maelon, which combined with her last three targets means we can safely assume she is looking for someone connected with the STG. Coupled with the specialities of the information brokers she had dealings with earlier highlights that she is looking for a discreet, but highly skilled medical professional."

Hannah tapped her fingers along the top of the pad as she realized who Eva must be looking for, "Solus is a very versatile individual, she could be going to see him for any number of reasons." She sighed lifting a hand to a temple, "Is he still on Omega?"

"He is, though he went underground after a disagreement with the Talons" Jack tapped a hidden control on his chair bringing up a display that was filled with the biographical data of a Turian Spectre, "We have another problem however, this is Nihlus Kyrik, he's Saren's protégé and has been tasked with tracking down your wayward child." His cybernetic orbs flicked up to her when she tensed at the mention of their old nemesis, "You understand with Saren this closely linked to the situation, I can't allow you to become more involved in this issue."

"She's my Daughter, Jack! Not an Issue!" Her plea of course had no effect on her oldest living friend, "Eva, you've been dead to her since she was seven. If she finds out that you're alive, or if she finds out about Miranda, or about Cerberus' involvement with Akuze, combined with what we know of her current temperament," he let his meaning trail off before adding, "You are too important to Cerberus to risk in this manner."

Hannah just shook her head, Jack always knew how to make someone feel like they were just a tool, "Jack, I'm not just going to let her be hunted down like some animal!"

Ice clinked against glass as the seated man took a measured sip from his glass, "And she won't be, I've already dispatched a team to covertly pick her up. No need to needlessly endanger either you, or your daughter."

The blonde shifted her weight back as her arms crossed under her bust, "Who?"

"Raza, and Leng, they are both familiar with Omega, and Raza should be able to calm any bad blood that may arise between Leng and your daughter." His hand played with the glass on the edge of the chair, "Widow will be shadowing them as well, to deal with any issue that requires a less, delicate touch."

Hannah opened her mouth to object but Jack cut her off, "This is not a debate, Eva. Those three will be acceptable, or there will be no team sent out at all."

No reply came, instead the woman just spun on her heel and stormed out of the room, snarling at Kelly who had been in the process of entering the room.

She had no idea what Jack's angle was here, but if he thought she was just going to sit back and do nothing he had forgotten who he was dealing with.

S&S

'We are still several hours from Omega, Ma'am. You should get some sleep.'

The recently activated A.I's message scrolled across her display, but the sole organic in the ship shook her head in disagreement, "I don't think I can sleep, plus I still have plenty of tweaks to do to my omni."

Eva let her head fall back into the seat as a sigh escaped her lips, of all the things she had lost on Akuze her primary Omni tool had been the biggest loss, after her limbs of course. While the one she had implanted into her left arm had survived, it was mostly used for hacking, and other subtler methods of action; her right tool had been filled to the brim with combat programs that she had spent countless hours refining, and tweaking to perfection.

Starting back from square one infuriated her, she's already managed to integrate omni-blade functionality for emergencies, but that had been simple. Everything else though would require hours of mind numbing effort to program, and then she would need the facilities to test them.

A groan escaped her at that thought, realizing that she obviously no longer had access to those facilities thanks to the Alliance. On the bright side however, she was no longer bound to restrict herself to only legal technologies, which isn't to say she was going to go crazy on Omega.

But Evalyn Shepard was definitely going shopping.

'Ma'am, a file has been uploaded through your encrypted channel.'

Eva frowned at that, she had left a backchannel for a select few trusted individuals back in the Alliance to use if they had to contact her, but it wasn't something that would be used lightly.

"The file's clean I assume."

'Yes, Ma'am.'

Her hand moved upwards and tapped on the icon on her omni-tool, and as her eyes scanned the data she could feel her hands beginning to tremble.

It was an inter-Alliance report regarding the Akuze incident, which concluded that an organization by the name of Cerberus had created the Thresher Maw lure as part of some sick experiment. Apparently this Cerberus had originally been an Alliance affiliated group, but had gone rogue several years ago when their experiments had first come to light and their experiments had only become more horrific since then.

As she continued reading about the known and suspected Cerberus actions she could feel a sickening sensation in her stomach. She couldn't understand the scientific rational behind most of these experiments, let alone be able to comprehend how one human could knowingly do this to another.

Her fists clenched together as her eyes fell on groups symbol, the black and orange symbol becoming burned into her mind as memories of Akuze surged forward into her mind.

Her artificial hand tightened into a fist that would shatter bones, she had a target now. Those who had died on Akuze, the victims of the myriad of sick experiments before her, and herself, they were all going to be avenged.

S&S

Nihlus had already been in the Terminus systems when he received a heavily encrypted signal. Now most Spectres would ignore it so as to not give away their position, but Nihlus was about as good a Spectre as he was a Turian, and he was bored.

Which was why he accepted the incoming hail with his usual nonchalance, and wasn't at all surprised to discover that only audio was being transmitted to him.

"You're looking for Evalyn Shepard, why?" The voice was obviously distorted, and they were speaking one of the more common Asari languages, but Nihlus was good with dialects, and he could pick up a human's inflections despite the distortion.

"I don't see why it is your business why I'm looking for a rogue N7. Or is she just lost? They've left that kind of vague seeing as how the Alliance hasn't officially declared her status." He let out a dry chuckle, "Now the language trick is nice but I know that you're human, which leads me to assume I am speaking to a Cerberus member, likely someone important too." He tapped a command to start sending video to his conversational partner, then proceeded to lean back in his chair with his armoured feet on the desk blocking most of the image he was sending out, "So tell me, why should I answer you?"

There was a pregnant pause before finally his screen buzzed as it began to transmit the new feed it was receiving, and he found himself starring down an older version of his quarry.

Blue eyes glared at him from amongst loose blonde hair streaked with silver, "Because I'm her Mother, and I'm trying to keep her from making the same mistakes that I did."

Nihlus' mind took a few moments to recover, but his mouth was already running, "So, this is the great Eva Core. Honestly after Saren's stories I expected, more."

For a second there was both amusement and rage in those orbs, "Yes well, he always could hold a grudge, though I am rather surprised he would mention me. After all I'm half the reason his Brother is dead."

The Turian gave a shrug like motion, "He respects those with strength, and the strength to use it." His talons drummed on the desk before he decided to answer her earlier question, hoping that his gut was right on this one, "The Council wants to recruit her as a Spectre. I put in her application myself but they were the ones who moved up the timetable, I don't know the particulars myself."

He let out a laugh, "Honestly, with the amount of time it has taken me to track her down I'm amazed they didn't try to get her while she was still in the Alliance. She's better than most Spectres are at covering her tracks."

The human woman seemed to be digesting the information, "So Saren wasn't behind this?"

"No, I mean he's been monitoring the situation, but he's had no part in it from what I can tell. I, uh," he scratched a talon under his chin to cover his embarrassment, "Had to get his help to figure out she's trying to track down someone who's affiliated with the STG. I'm going to get in touch with a contact of mine out in Flotsam to figure out who her target is."

A pale hand was raised to stop him from continuing further, "She's going to Omega, her plan is to get Mordin Solus to help her do, something. Eva's always been willing to push the boundaries of acceptable science so I have no idea what she could need him for."

The Turian nodded gratefully, but his eyes still held his suspicions, "So why are you telling me all this, surely I'm correct about your current affiliations."

A shift in position let him see the insignia patch on her shoulder confirming his suspicion, her response just sounded so very tired, it reminded him of Bau on a particularly bad day, "I'm Cerberus, I have been since it was founded, since before Eva was even born actually. But it was my choice, and Jack," she sighed as she corrected herself quickly, "The Illusive Man claims that he plans on bringing Eva into the fold, but I know my daughter, and I know him." Her head dropped letting her hair cover her face, "The moment you said she is being vetted to be a Spectre it all made sense, because he plans on making sure that doesn't happen."

Her head tilted up and he could see the seething hatred twisting those features, "I sacrificed so much for that man, and he would throw my own child on the pyre just to further some fucking plan of his." She slumped back into the chair as if the act of talking had drained her, "You don't have children Kyrik, but I need you to understand that I would do anything for my daughters."

Nihlus noted the use of the plural, filing the information away for later before replying, "I think we understand one another perfectly, Ma'am."

A flicker of gratitude ghosted across the human's face, as she tapped something on the terminal in front of her she glanced back up at him, "I've sent you one of the last confirmed sightings of Solus, as well as the particulars about the craft Eva is using, and thank you, Spectre."

As the screen flicked to black Nihlus let out a sigh, "I wouldn't be thanking me just yet."

S&S

Shepard weaved through the throngs of people that cluttered the junk filled corridors that passed for streets on Omega. Her pistol was magnetically attached to her hip, while opposing it bounced an M-9 Tempest submachinegun that was fitted into a loose tactical holster, because no one went unarmed on Omega unless they were willing to pay for protection from one of the major gangs.

A trio of Batarian's watched her, obviously trying to size her up as she approached one of the dilapidated railings that overlooked one of trenches that carved their through Omega's heart, a reminder that Omega's true value lay in the eezo still within her core. Her hunters pulled back when her artificial limb flashed in the dull light, few species in the galaxy utilized cybernetics and their large cost meant that those who possessed them were often far more dangerous than they looked.

And this being Omega a human with cyberware would be of interest to the Queen, so she was certain that Aria would hear the rumour within the hour. Which was good because she needed the blue bitch's help to track down Solus, who had disappeared after getting into a scuffle with some gang named the Talons.

But seeing as she had the time she may as well get in some shopping, a rifle would be a good addition. Some armour would be nice too though it was unlikely that she could find a full human set out here, she might be able to find a random piece, but she was probably going to have to modify an Asari set for her own use.

She didn't head straight there, instead she took a roundabout route to ensure she wasn't being followed, and could only smile grimly to herself as a message scrolled across her HUD, 'Turian, male, dark plates, he's been following you since you exited the hanger.'

The A.I was still in her ship, but was testing out it's abilities against Aria's systems, "Good job," she whispered knowing her visor would pick up her words.

She picked up her pace slightly, and quickly turned into the closest side street before throwing herself into a run allowing her cybernetic leg to propel her farther then her natural one ever could. Reaching the end, she threw herself to her right and pressed herself against the wall. For a few seconds she was worried that the Turian hadn't fallen for her ruse, but as a pair of armoured footsteps thundered toward her she knew that he had fallen for it.

The Turian in skidded into view and she snapped forward, her metal first slamming directly into his skull and she felt a slight tinge of disappointment as he crumpled to the ground. His eyes quickly refocussed and narrowed on to the human standing above him, as a groan emerged from him, "That hurt you know."

She shook her fist before realizing how pointless the exercise was, "Kind of the point, who are you, and why are you following me?"

He quickly pushed himself to a sitting position, causing her hand to flash and draw her pistol levelling it at his head. The Turian though just sighed, "Really, I can't even sit up?" He let himself collapse back to the ground, "Better?" When he still didn't receive an answer he just sighed, "Nihlus Kyrik, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, pleasure to meet you, Shepard."

She couldn't help letting one of her eyebrows raise, "You? Are a Spectre?"

"Why does everyone say that?" The response was less to her and more to the general world it seemed, but he finally huffed, "Yes, I'm a Spectre. I've been trying to track you down since you went on your little road trip, but well you don't make that easy now do you?" He let out a dry chuckle, which got him no reaction from the stone faced human, "Spirits you make Saren look personable."

He began to push himself up again but stopped partway up, "Can I rise, or is that too much?"

She shipped her pistol, stepping back a few paces as she did so, "Why is Saren's pupil looking for me?"

Nihlus was on his feet by this point, poking gingerly at the mandible that had taken some of the blow, "So you know who I am, yet you still punched me."

Her head tilted to the side slightly, "I only knew that there was a Turian following me, but yes I've known about you for quite some time thanks to your association with Saren." She began to walk down the corridor, a hand resting on her pistol ready to draw, pausing briefly to glance back to see that the Turian was following her, "You still haven't told me the why of this situation."

The Turian shifted his shoulders, "Well that will need to wait for a more secure environment," his eyes flicked around the area as they entered into a more open space, "For now though, I'm just here to watch your back."

"From Cerberus?"

That caused the darker alien next to her to pause, "How did you hear that name?"

His gaze was met by a pair of mismatched eyes, her tone communicating that she had no interest in answering him, "I'll take that as a yes."

Her gaze shifted forward scanning the area with a grave intensity as they moved to a slightly more open area, "So, Turian, why should I believe that you are here to help me? There is little love between our species, or your mentor and my family."

She began making her way forward, Nihlus keeping pace next to her, "If it is all the same, I prefer Nihlus to Turian," he made a show of stretching his shoulder around to give pretence for a glance behind them, "The honest answer is that we need your skills at this time, and that is all your getting at this time."

She just hummed in response as she continued forward, causing the Turian to sigh, "So, you never told me how you heard about Cerberus, or where we are going for that matter?"

Her gaze didn't waver from their scanning of the path in front of her, "A lady has the right to her secrets, Nihlus."

"So that means you aren't going to answer either question?" When no response came the Spectre just let out a groan, "You really are making Saren more appealing by comparison, you know that right?"

S&S

As they entered the market Nihlus shot her a glance, "Shopping, Lady?"

"Stop calling me that."

Nihlus's mandibles flicked in amusement, "Calling you what, Lady?"

An angry growl emerged from her lips as she pushed forward, moving towards the area that was closely monitored by armed guards watching their employers merchandise.

The blonde felt a faint flicker of excitement run through her at the sight of all the tech in front of her, she savoured the rare burst of positive emotion as she began to assess the items that lay in front of her. Strolling along the stalls without any real path or plan, paying closer attention to the wares than their owners, a shopkeeper could lie, technology couldn't.

Nihlus just groaned, muttering to himself something about women before he suddenly veered off and began looking through less than legal ammo blocks.

She ignored the Turian only to come to a halt in front of one non-descript booth, the owner was one of the few not shouting his wares to passer-by's. The Turian shopkeeper was obviously confident that the quality of his wares would entice those who knew what they were doing.

"Is that an ML-61?" The Turian's mandibles flashed in a smirk, "You have a good eye, most think that this is a 62. You can handle the weapon if you would like, the power supply is disabled."

She bent down and gently hefted the boxy weapon up, the later ML series had gone with a cylinder design to incorporate a greater amount of smaller missiles, she spoke as she continued to examine the weapon, "I always felt they made a mistake changing the guidance system with the 64, what's the point of a weapon that doesn't hit the target you want it to hit?"

The Turian shook his head, "No the 62 model was where the issues began, increased ammo capacity is a great feature, but not at the expense of stopping power." He gave a shrug of his shoulders, "Not like the manufactures give an address to send complaints to." Shepard couldn't argue with that, as the organization that produced the weapon was extremely secretive. Orders for the newest model were done through intermediaries, and there was never a reissue of an older model. Which combined with the extremely sophisticated rights management software that was built into the gun resulted in older models being in high demand.

She placed the weapon back down on the stall, "I would love to buy it, but I need to get some necessities first."

The Turian nodded, but there was a twitch of annoyance in his mandible, obviously someone had been expecting a sale.

Evalyn cast a glance back and saw that Nihlus was still absorbed in haggling with an Elcor shopkeeper, gesturing angrily at the larger organic. She edged around a group of Blue Suns on patrol, and slowed her pace down as she came to a stall covered in pieces of armour.

The Matron manning the stall took a swift glance at her, eyes narrowing at the exposed metal peeking out from Shepard's coat.

"I don't think the alien appreciates the arm, Shepard." She tensed at the unfamiliar voice, head turning to find a dark skinned human leaned against the stall. She blended in to the environment perfectly, nothing about her, from her stance, to her clothes would have tipped the blonde off, but she knew who this woman worked for in her gut.

She worked to keep the building anger from showing in her voice, "And Cerberus does?"

The shock that briefly registered on the other woman's face brought a muted warmth to her, but she didn't dwell on the feeling instead she began to scan the area subtly. Sending a quick burst for her eye in the sky to start doing likewise, she shot a quick glance to check on Nihlus but found his previous position suspiciously empty.

Could he have been in on this? Unlikely, but always a possibility.

'Male human is approaching you, Ma'am. Partial match to a 'Kai Leng,' a discharged N7 operative.'

Leng was here? Well that just complicated things, her eyes fixed on the shopkeeper, "Can I try on the gear? I'm not going to buy something that I can't wear." The Asari rolled her eyes but waved her acknowledgement, the blonde reaching down and grabbing an item that she was certain even the shopkeeper wasn't even aware of what it was. Then again most people wouldn't be able to spot an Enforcement Gauntlet by sight, but it was one of the few pieces of tech the Batarian's had ever made that was worth looking at.

The darker skinned woman began talking again, "Well of course we appreciate you, Shepard. You have given so much to humanity, and unlike the Alliance, Cerberus knows how to show gratitude to people like yourself."

She held up her arm, admiring the bone white armour that covered her right hand, continuing up the forearm until it ended where a guard protected the elbow, where the gap would be in the plating were she fully armoured. But the tech inside that made this piece special, specifically it was the specialized emitters inside that generated an extremely powerful, but small, kinetic barrier.

The Alliance had been prototyping a larger version that was meant for breaching techniques, but while the human variant was built for defence, this one was built for offense. The projected fields not only extended a user's reach, but also added increased force to their blows, and if they were technically skilled enough the fields could be augmented with tech programs like incinerate.

'He is halfway through the market, Ma'am.'

She flipped the gauntlet over, adjusting a few pieces of plating until she clenched her now covered hand into a fist, and with a nod of contentment she tossed a credit chit on to the stall. The Asari owner grabbed it in surprise, and moved to run it through the terminal behind her.

Leaving Shepard and the Cerberus agent relatively alone, the blonde's held tilting to the side as she studied the woman, "How did you see this ending exactly? I mean you tear my body to shreds on Akuze, and then you hope that I'm too stupid to figure it out and join you?" The woman's eyes widened just a hair, but it was that moment that another message scrolled before her eyes.

'Turn around Ma'am.'

Her left arm flashed with biotic energy as she flung the woman away, while the rest of her body rotated to allow her right hand, now engulfed in numerous crimson plates, to wrap around the blade that had been coming to claim her life, "Hello, Leng."

"Shepard."

Eva had already drawn her Tempest, levelling it at the female Cerberus agent who was struggling to her feet, "Can't say I'm surprised to see you in Cerberus, Leng. You'd fit right in with a bunch of murderous psychopaths." She let a grin pull across her features, "Though if they really wanted me dead, they should have sent someone who could actually do the job."

His reply was cut off by his comrade, "Leng what the hell are you doing? We're supposed to bring her in!"

Eva's eyes narrowed at this, Leng wasn't the type to lie to a comrade just to make a kill easier, and he would have wanted her to know that he was the one who killed her. Which meant he thought someone else was going to get to her first, and as she glanced around she realized just how exposed this area was, "I'm in the killbox," she let out an annoyed sigh, "Shit."

She slammed another throw field into Leng, causing him to spiral into the other Cerberus agent. Eva instantly took off at a run down the shop lined path, throwing up a barrier around herself which caused her to wobble slightly as she was expending a more biotic energy than usual.

A crack filled the air and the people in the market who had already sensed that someone was wrong began to panic, trying to get away from anything that appeared to be a threat, which definitely included the two human's wielding melee weapons.

A staccato of shots rang out, and suddenly Nihlus was shouting on her tactical net, 'Not sure what the hell it is giving me directions but they're got me chasing down their sniper.'

Another high powered shot rang out, and she could hear Nihlus cursing under his breath, 'I'll handle this one, you take the pair on the ground.'

"Sounds like a plan," she turned to see that Leng had recovered, and was making his way towards her, only to be forced to take cover as she lazily fired her machine pistol at him, his shields flaring in response, and she couldn't help but throw out a taunt, "This is a gun, it lets me hurt you from a distance, you fucking idiot."

An annoyed growl emerged from behind her, and she let out a hiss of pain as she dodged just a bit too slow and the assassin's blade lightly slashed through the skin over her shoulder blade. She caught the next strike on the shield of her new gauntlet, and just pulled down the trigger of her tempest and kept it aimed at the lunatic.

His shields flickered, then failed, and she couldn't hide the grimace as she could hear them ping off the armour he must be wearing underneath that ugly jacket, "I've surpassed you, Shepard. I told the Illusive Man that you would just be a liability, and now I will prove it."

Suddenly he was flying through the air, impacting heavily with a metal sign that was advertising some drink called Tupani, "Are you ever going to not fall for that?"

She winced as she moved towards the booth she had visited early, and deftly pulled off the plating on the back and began to reconnect the heavy power cells to the rest of the weapon, her hands a blur as she worked. As soon as power indicators began to flicker to life she could feel her lips pulling into a smile, and she aimed the weapon which had linked automatically with her own targeting systems on her target.

Leng had struggled to his feet by the time a shrill beep filled her ears to let her know that she was locked on him, and she braced herself as the high powered warhead streaked forward, leaving a white contrail behind it as it weaved through the obstacles that the Cerberus operative tried to put in its way.

"Gotta love that classic guidance system."

The distant rumble, followed by a scream of absolute rage let her know that she had hit her target, and slipping the launcher on to her back with the handily included strap wincing as it bounced off the slash Leng had gave her, she drew her pistol and began to make her way cautiously toward her target.

Leng himself had propped himself against a nearby wall, and she was surprised to realize that his legs had been synthetic replacements. She frowned as she realized that perhaps he wasn't protecting his torso with armour, perhaps he had converted his torso to armour, he was insane enough to voluntarily undergo such a procedure after all.

Her foot caught on something, and she glanced down to see his sword lying on the ground before her. She stooped down to grab it and made her way towards the helpless assassin, and with a swift motion plunged the sword through his shoulder and into the metal of the stall behind him burying the blade up to its hilt, before kneeling down to look him in the eye, "I'm leaving you alive, because I owed you a debt. Next time though, I will kill you. And you can let your boss know I have an alternate employment opportunity, so I decline his offer."

She found the other agent quickly, the woman was sobbing quietly where she must have landed after Leng slammed into her, glancing up she saw the approaching blonde and began to splutter, "I swear, I had no idea that this was a kill-op. Please, you can't kill me for something that I would never have wanted to be a part of!" Tears were streaming down the woman's face as she attempted to get enough oxygen to stop from hyperventilating.

The blonde however didn't care and levelled her pistol at the woman, "I'm sure that is a great comfort to all the people who have lost family to the people you work for," she pulled the trigger only to frown in confusion, but as she saw the red error indicator she realized that it had been hacked, "Fuck!"

The darker skinned woman had already slammed into her torso, causing the launcher to go skidding away as the pair tumbled to the ground, a gasp of pain emerging from the blonde as her wound flared from the sudden impact. Eva barely managed to twist her head in an effort to dodge a knife that embedded into the plating to the right of her head, but the other woman had overextended giving her a chance to grasp the other woman's arm in her own hand, leveraging her cyberware's bone crushing strength to halt any future attacks.

"You're good," she conceded to the Cerberus woman on top of her, who only smirked before replying, "And you're breath-taking," suddenly her weight shifted and there was as a pair of lips on her own, and she became very aware that physical pleasure was handled by a different section of her brain. The kiss lasted just long enough that she realized the woman on top of her actually was her type, and this distraction caused her to not register when those lips slipped away, well she wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for the head-butt that swiftly followed their absence.

Letting out a curse her grip on the operative was lost, and acting purely on instinct she engulfed the woman in a lift field, before lashing out with whatever dregs of power she had left to throw the woman as far as she could.

She collapsed in to a heap as a ragged scream ripped from her lips, pain blossoming in her skull, a visceral reaction to having pushed her body too far it seemed. Her body curled up on itself as she prayed for blackness to take her, all the while the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own screams.

S&S

She slowly came back to consciousness, beginning a subtle test of her body she was able to ascertain two facts. One, she was intact physically, and two, she was being restrained on some sort of table.

"Patient shows signs of conscious thought, good, very good. Actions indicate that she realized she is in a potentially hostile environment, excellent sign for recovery." She could hear a set of footsteps, likely a Salarian from the voice alone, moving about the room but they did not approach her, she tried to open her eyes to track the individual but ended up letting out a hiss of pain as soon as the room's lights hit her eyes.

"Your optic nerve was severely overstimulated, will take some time for it to adjust."

She passed out again at that point, and when she came back around she found that she had adjusted to the lights, and twisted her head to get a look at the back of the Salarian still puttering about the room.

He was wearing an armoured lab-coat, and she could see the tell-tale sign of weapons hidden amongst the coats folds. But it was his missing horn that drew her attention, an identifying marker for one Mordin Solus, and she couldn't help but let out a dark laugh.

He turned around the looked at her, curiosity on his features as she smirked at him, "I've been looking for you Doctor-"

"Please no names." A third voice emerged from the opposite side of the room, and the blonde turned to find a dark skinned Asari lounging on a chair, Aria T'Loak's eyes held a predatory gleam as she raked them up and down the human's form.

Her lips quirked upwards as she locked eyes with Eva, "We both know who he is, but anyone who is listening to us might not. So, he shall be the Doctor, I shall of course be the Queen, and what shall we call you? I assume after all the trouble you have gone to these past few months you don't want to broadcast who you are."

"Lady," she grimaced as her mouth got ahead of her brain, if Nihlus had survived his fight he was going to have a field day with that.

"Lady, rather fitting I suppose." She reached forward and took a drink out of a tumbler that was sitting nearby, "But a Lady should know that she doesn't just traipse into a Queen's castle without permission, shouldn't she."

Shepard inclined her head, "Yes, a Lady should show the proper respect to a Queen, and I had intended on making the proper gestures of respect of course," she flexed against her bonds, confident now that her cybernetics could snap them if she was forced to fight, "But Cerberus forced my hand."

Aria frowned at the mention of the organization, "I thought as much, but your Turian friend refused to confirm my suspicions."

"So, my friend lived?" Aria gave her a small nod, "He said that he'll make contact with you," the Queen gave her a victorious grin, "But, not until I am through with you, he knew better then to fight the Queen."

Aria pushed herself to her feet, towering over the prone human, "Your presence resulted in the Blue Suns grabbing control of one of my personal districts, and I will not have Santiago's minions thinking they can get away with such an action."

She made her way to the room's door, "Once the Doctor has cleared you, I'll have someone get you outfitted for combat. You're going to be doing some exterminating for me."

As the door slid shut behind the Queen, Evalyn let out a sigh of relief, "Can you undo these straps now?"

The Salarian glanced at her before giving a small nod, "Have been going over your scans, fascinating to see a human body exposed to element zero this many times with no negative effects." He pulled off the strap over her right arm, and backed off allowing her to handle the rest of them on her own, "Of course negative is relative, has also resulted in the body's rejection of cloned tissues, unfortunate side effect."

She pushed herself to a sitting position, "Do you know why I blacked out after the fight."

"Yes," he shifted over to the nearby terminal, "Pushing your biotics resulted in the node located in your brain being activated, subsequent pressure on your brain resulted in your loss of consciousness. No permanent damage, but next time you," he shook his head, "Might not be so lucky."

She nodded, "I thought so, I've designed an implant to handle the problem, but I needed someone of your capability to perform the surgery."

Solus quirked his head to one side, "Will do it," he paced a few steps away then spun back around, "But will need a favour," when she went to ask what it was he simply held up his hands, "Can be handled after you have seen to her request, will perform the surgery then as well. Doubtful that she will give you the time to recover from such a procedure were we to do it now."

He waved for her to follow him, "Spare room where you can rest is down the hall, the equipment you had on you is also in there. The Queen said to consider the gear a gift from her."

Shepard sighed, "Nothing is more expensive than a free gift."

Mordin shot her a wide smile at that, "Quite right, Lady."

She sighed internally, Nihlus was never going to let that nickname go now.

S&S

Credit Song: This Dark and Twisty Road by Abney Park

AN: If there are any neurologists or the like who are reading this and just exploded in rage then I'm sorry, I did as much research as I could to make sure that Eva's symptoms seemed like they could theoretically happen but biology was never my best subject.

Speaking of research, fun fact the enforcement gauntlet was actually a cut item from ME 2 where I have to assume it was going to be an upgrade for your melee attacks. So I brought it back for this, giving Eva a mild defensive but mostly offensive melee option, plus power fists are fun!

Feel free to leave a review, or press the buttons below. I'll admit that it makes me feel good about myself.


	4. Royals and Peasants

Chapter complete!

Going to be upfront with you guys, I have no freaking clue how long this fic will actually take me to complete. I mean it is outlined, and I know that X, Y and Z are going to happen, but not how many chapters those events translate into.

Also for those who are reading either the original S&S or FHS don't assume you know the plot, I've tossed out pretty much all of S&S at this point. While the FHS replacement fic (S&S: Unrepentant Sinner) will have more similarities if only because I felt I did a better job of it, and I am working within the confines of ME 1. Obviously some differences will exist due solely to the changes I've done to the world and the characters, while others are because I can.

Song Themes:

The Illusive Man: The Man Who Sold the World cover by Midge Ure (original by David Bowie)

S&S

 _Protests turned violent as pro and anti augmentation activists clashed outside of the Reichstag in Berlin, and while the sight of these two groups clashing has been the norm these past few months. The events of today paint a disturbing picture of the future._

 _The following video was acquired from one of the protestors present. These images are graphic, and are not suitable for young children or minors._

 _At roughly 14:00 local time protestors who had been present since early that morning began to become violent, forcing local police to attempt to separate the two ideological groups. At this point an unidentified augmented person was struck in the side of the face with what appeared to be a bottle, the man was disoriented from the blow and was then led away by an officer, who also had not been identified. Shortly after that same officer can be seen flying into a nearby cruiser, followed by the same augmented from earlier reappears and begins to attack those in the anti-augmentation crowd._

 _It took the police calling in their own augmented officer before the man was subdued. Eighteen people were ended up in hospital, with five being rushed to ICU, those five including three officers involved in the initial attempts to subdue the man. It is currently unclear what caused the episode, but the event has resulted in emergency sessions being called across the globe by Governments to discuss this issue._

 _Beacon Technologies declined to comment on the matter, only stating that they are acting within accordance of the law._

 _CBC, 2062 CE_

S&S

Smoke trailed from the lit cigarette in the Illusive Man's hand, his implants giving away no hint as to his mood but his uncharacteristic silence was a powerful indicator as to his mood.

Widow rubbed the marks that ran up her left arm, thirty-two nearly identical scars in total ran up the length of the limb, one for each champion she had killed in the arena for her old master. They had always insisted that it was an honour for them to die at her hands, but something deep in her soul had told her that it had been wrong, that feeling was the only thing that had kept her from becoming a mindless tool of her old Master.

She had felt that same feeling when her sights had been on the young Shepard, and while the feeling had not stopped her from taking the shot, instead a Turian had done that task. But it had been the first reappearance of that sensation since she had been rescued by Cerberus.

She didn't like it.

"Give me your thoughts on the mission," the man took another drag of his cigarette, "Not your report, but your personal opinion." A brief sizzle lilted on the air as the object in the Illusive Man's hand was extinguished, but silence prevailed until finally the gladiator began to speak.

"We," the woman's deep voice caught in her throat, her vocal chords unhappy with being awakened after having slept for so long, "We underestimated her. She knew both my position, and Leng's before he was visible to her."

Cerberus' leader gave her a nod to continue as he lit another cigarette, shaking out the match once the object had caught fire, "It wasn't the Spectre who spotted Leng, because he had moved out of the marketplace before I was in position."

Her fight with the Spectre had been, anti-climactic to say the least. The Turian had known that she would be the target of Aria's forces, and had simply forced her away from the marketplace with sustained fire from his rifle. It went against all of her instincts to retreat from a fight, but it had been an infiltration mission and so she had left most of her gear behind.

"And your personal opinion on your comrades' performances?"

She glanced down at her feet, she didn't want to answer this question it reminded her too much of when her old master would use her to correct flaws in the other slave's techniques, "You have seen as much as I have, I was forced away before combat began."

He took a drag from the cigarette, "I understand that, but I value your opinion in this matter. So please, answer the question."

She understood an order when she heard it, and so she spoke, "Raza performed as well as can be expected from an infiltration operative in minimal gear, her, unconventional, assault, is likely the only reason she is alive."

"I concur, and Leng?"

"His decoy tech worked, I'm not even certain that Shepard realized what he did to get behind her as fast as he did."

Silence filled the room and the Illusive Man gave out a dark chuckle, "I take it that is the only thing that he accomplished in your eyes?"

She did not like speaking ill of those she spilled blood with, but she reminded herself that Leng was a hindrance, a word spoken now may save others later, "He sees himself as an assassin, yet he sacrifices his advantages for the sake of his pride. Dead is dead, that is all that matters."

"I will pass that along to the team overseeing his recuperation. You can leave now, Widow."

She made to leave but her feet refused to move, "Do I still have permission to speak, Master?" At his nod she continued, "Why were we to kill her? I know it isn't my place to question orders, but it didn't feel right."

The man stood up from his chair, and her body reflexively flinched back expecting a blow, only to realize that he had moved across the room to look out the reinforced viewing glass that stood between himself and the void. His head turned and she could see the twin pinpricks of light assessing her, "Come here, Widow."

Widow, that he still called her by the name he had given her, and not the number that adorned her flesh must mean he wasn't angry at her. As she took position next to him he began to speak, "Do you know why you were made a slave?"

She turned toward him, confusion painting her features, but the man continued, "It is because the Council decided, in their infinite wisdom, that a race's cultural practices were sacrosanct. Now this was originally done to protect certain species, quirks, such as the Hanar. But with the appearance of the Batarian's it was twisted thanks to their claim that their practice of slavery fell under this umbrella."

He let out a sigh, "And the Council agreed, because to do otherwise would somehow admit that they had made a mistake." He brought the smoldering object back up to his lips, his face illuminated briefly by the flame before falling again into darkness, "For a long time things went smoothly for the Council, the Batarian's played nice and kept their slaving to the Terminus systems." He turned his head to her, "Until we showed up."

"Because we, my Dear. We overturned everything that those slavers had been working toward, we took the Traverse, we took the position of the most dominant non-Council power," a smirk played on his lips as he remembered another fact, "And we even took their embassy."

She bowed her head, shaking her head, "I'm not sure I follow, Master."

"You will, Widow." He dropped the dead cigarette to the floor, letting it smolder out on the reflective floor, "After that they left the Citadel, and began their 'unofficial' attacks on human colonies across the Traverse." His hands tightened into fists as he continued, "Thousands of humans have been sold into slavery, with just as many left to rot where the Batarian's shot them. Of course none of these were military targets, the Batarian's don't have the strength to take on our fleets and so they resort to terror."

His voice dropped lower, "And while our ambassadors have debased themselves begging for help, the Council has watched and done nothing." He starred out at the dying sun before him for several moments before continuing, "I would see our species stand on our own, to deal with the threats that affect us as we see fit, and to throw off the shackles the Council is busy forging for us."

He turned away from the vista before him and made his way back to his chair, "Evalyn becoming a Spectre isn't just another chain, instead her ascension will be the spike that ties down the thickest chain yet. Humanity gaining a Spectre will galvanize the Alliance into greater concessions in the hope of gaining a Council seat, all the while our own people will continue to suffer."

He let out a sigh, "But if Evalyn is dead, then we have bought humanity more time to finally come to their senses."

"Do you understand now, Widow."

She felt the feeling that had dogged her since Omega leave her body, and gave a grateful nod to the man, "Yes, Master."

"Good."

S&S

Eva let out an annoyed hiss as the Salarian removed the medigel patch he had slapped on the wound on her back, he ran a critical eye over the wound before nodding, "Good, not infected." Before she could respond he took off down the nearby hall, leaving her alone in the room.

She hadn't really interacted much with the Salarian, he was constantly buzzing around the compound which it turned out was one of Aria's emergency bunkers. Evalyn had kept herself busy as Aria had allowed her use of a fabricator, and so she had begun manufacturing the implants while enduring Mordin's endless barrages of tests.

Finally, after two days of observation he informed her that her both her body, and her element zero nodes were back to normal levels. Though he had cautioned her against utilizing her biotics, which was a plan she was fully on board with.

She opened up her comms as she went through a few morning exercises, "Is Nihlus still skulking around the hanger?"

'Yes, Ma'am. I believe he is still convinced that there is someone hiding in the ship.'

She wasn't surprised at that, even most humans wouldn't consider an A.I as an option, let alone someone who had been raised in Council space where even a particularly advanced V.I was viewed with suspicion.

"Keep me posted if anything changes."

'Of course, Ma'am.'

She stood up from her bunk, grabbing a loose purple shirt which she pulled over her head having had to remove it for Mordin's inspection. Now minimally clothed she grabbed a jacket lying at the foot of the bed and headed off to find the Salarian, eventually stumbling upon him muttering something to himself as he was tapping away at a terminal.

She waited a few moments to see if he noticed her, and realizing that he was in his own world she broke her silence, "That meant I'm good to go right? No offense, but I've had just about enough of this station's smell." Mordin for his part just turned towards her, shooting her a small grin, "Learn to live with it. Plus, could be worse; Blood Pack not on station."

She blanched at that, "It gets worse? Why would you voluntarily subject yourself to this?"

His face turned serious at that, the alien quickly moved from his seat and made his way over to a nearby desk. His hands rummaging through various drawers until he held up a small OSD, his gaze seemed remorseful as he looked at the small object in his hands, "Suspect we had similar reasons, eventually have to acknowledge your own actions." He let out a sigh, "Easy to argue that you weren't responsible, that it was one's," he paused his voice becoming uncharacteristically venomous, "Superiors."

Holding out the disk he made his way across the room, depositing it into her outstretched hand while giving her a conspiratorial wink, "Old STG tricks, certain you will enjoy them."

She gave him a nod of gratitude, "Thanks, I'm trying to replenish my tech database." Her metal fingers clicked against the edge of the disk before she added, "I don't regret anything, Doctor. Not a single thing, and as for why I left? I simply chose to never be anyone's tool again."

His alien eyes focused on her, as though she were a puzzle to figure out, "Finding me wasn't easy, surely you had some difficulties?"

Slipping the OSD into a slot on her belt she pushed herself to her feet, going through the motions of pulling on the clothes that had been left for her, "Difficult yes, but that doesn't mean I'll lose any sleep over it."

One of the Salarian's hands moved up to his chin, tapping thoughtfully as he studied her, "Perhaps you and the Queen not so different after all, worrisome." He gave a quick shrug as though physically breaking his own line of thought, "Regardless, she will be getting impatient, best to not anger her; results," he took a deep breath as though reliving a memory, "Unpleasant."

Evalyn had to agree with that statement, as she pulled on the heavy jacket that had been delivered to her before she pulled its hood up over her head to obscure her features.

She really needed to dye her hair.

S&S

She could hear the pulsing beat of Afterlife above them as her Asari guide led her through the club's lower levels, the maiden radiated an aura of overconfidence, and seeing as they had disarmed her upon entering the structure Evalyn kept her guard even tighter than normal.

After all, when a Lady goes to court she always expected to get stabbed in the back.

She was also without backup down here, as her A.I had discovered that it was unable to pierce the electronic defenses that protected Aria's citadel. A fact that while usurping, was unfortunate because it meant she had no way to signal Nihlus for backup.

Assuming he was telling the truth about her being of use to the Council, then he was in turn useful to her, as she had always found that you could count on a person if their motive was self-interest.

Finally, the pair came to a small room that was dominated by a huge tactical table, constantly updating and reassessing what Aria's legion of spies, and soldiers reported back to her. The Queen looked up at the pair as they entered, gesturing for the human to join her as the table zoomed in on an area that she tapped.

"Lady, this area is The Cinders, and it is home to one of five major power facilities on Omega that I personally don't control. I let the Blue Suns have it as a gesture of good faith, and you are going to take it away from them."

Shepard glanced down at the holographic representation of the building, noting that it must have at one time been part of a larger Salarian complex from the design. "So what? I just waltz in kill everyone and plant your flag?"

Aria's lips quirked but that was her only reaction, "I'd enjoy watching that, but no, nothing so obvious." She moved down the table closing the distance between herself and the human, "Omega is a living creature, Lady, and she hates it when things don't change. So I make sure that the only thing on Omega that remains static is my own power."

Her hand gracefully moved across the glowing surface, tapping a different colored set of districts, "You will be helping the Talons in their takeover of the area, of course they don't know that but that matters little to Omega."

Eva's eyes took in the map as she pictured the likely result of such an event, "So then the Blue Suns will retaliate against the Talons, ignorant of your involvement. Meanwhile, I'm certain that you will take whatever prizes you want from the two once they have weakened each other in a pointless fight neither wanted."

Her bio-electric field tingled as Aria blinked into existence right in front of her, a stunning display of control in that she was nearly brushing against the human, their noses almost touching, while the Queen's eyes held a glimmer of something that hadn't been there before, "So, you're not just a pretty face," the human flinched back as a violet hand traced across the scar tissue along her jaw, "Well, mostly pretty. Don't worry though, I like scars."

The blonde felt another ripple of biotic energy, and her instincts took over as she dropped to the ground barely dodging the attack that impacted harmlessly off of Aria's now active barrier. The Queen glanced down at where the strike had impacted and let out a deep sigh, as though she was only mildly annoyed by the recent turn of events.

The human's head whirled around as she searched for her assailant, quickly narrowing it down to the maiden who had led her here by virtue of the fact she had a pistol aimed at her. Shepard rolled into the table placing it between herself and the Maiden, content that the girl hadn't realized yet one very important fact.

Evalyn had hacked her weapon on the way to the meeting.

The human hurled herself to her feet not willing to waste her window of opportunity, and the Asari realized her mistake in not checking her weapon regularly. As Evalyn came into view of the Asari the Human couldn't help but smirk as the alien pull the trigger, elation dancing in Eva's eyes as the weapon obeyed the command she had inserted. The command in question caused the gun to overheat, sparks flying as the delicate internal components were destroyed, and rancid smoke began to bellow from the now useless device.

The meltdown itself hadn't done any serious damage to the girl, but the gauntleted hand that wrapped itself around the still flabbergasted maiden's throat certainly wasn't going to help her. Especially when it began deliver a potent electrical charge that disrupted her natural biotics. Normally such an attack would have to be delivered via a tech mine, but Eva had used her downtime to discover alternative uses for her new arm wear.

The girl's herself struggled to free herself, yet despite having lost both the advantage of surprise and her own natural biotics she refused to give up. Her pathetic attempts to breath only intensified as the taller human became annoyed at the pointless struggle, and proceeded to lift the Maiden off the floor until finally her feet were kicking fruitlessly at air.

"Enough! Let her go, Lady, you've more than proven your point."

Eva released her grip causing the girl to collapse to the floor in a sputtering heap, but even as she turned around her body was tense, ready to strike again at any moment as the maiden didn't seem like the type who would take defeat gracefully.

And as a strangled cry of rage broke from behind her the human sighed inwardly, but found herself surprised when Aria suddenly pulsed with energy sending the maiden hurtling into the bulkhead with a resounding metallic gong, "I said enough, Rila. Lady here has already proven that you aren't fit to be my instrument for this task," the Queen turned away disappointment clear on her features, "Or perhaps any task for that matter."

Aria's imperious gaze swept to the human, "You hacked her weapon before you even entered the room didn't you?"

A grim smile formed on Eva's lips, "On Earth a lady only had her wits to rely upon at court."

The ruler of Omega only nodded in response, before her eyes moved once again to the collapsed maiden and a sigh emerged from her dark lips, "Head back the way you came, and talk to Anto. He'll lead you to your partner for this mission," seeing the blonde's frown she froze the human with a glare, "His assistance is not negotiable, don't worry though he's a professional, and he won't reveal your identity at the risk of offending me."

Shepard knew a dismissal when she heard one, and made her way past the still unconscious Asari, pausing slightly when Aria's voice called out to her, "And do try to play nice, Lady."

S&S

Playing nice turned out to be very difficult.

Anto as it turned out was not only one of Aria's chief lieutenants, but he was also Batarian. To be fair he was by far the most pleasant Batarian she had ever met, which meant that he was just a few steps above a Vorcha for civility.

"Do all of you humans walk so slow?" He voiced his obnoxiously loud comment as soon as they began to pass another group of Aria's minions. The first time she had thought he was just trying to be an ass, now that he had just gone three for three she was pretty sure he thought she was Aria's latest pet.

A thought that made her even happier that she was planning to be off this station as quickly as possible. It also made her far warier of being alone in a room with the Asari, at least until Mordin installed those implants.

Her lips tugged into a smirk at that thought, she was never going to be at the mercy of one of those blue bitches again.

"Armory's just in there, boss said you can take what you want. Try to take the cheap stuff, I'd prefer not to have to see some Blue Sun big shot walking around with one of my guns."

Her hand snaked out and with one motion crushed his closest hand, the bones cracking under her grip. Anto for his part had just collapsed to the ground, howling in pain before she yanked his head up forcing his lower eyes to gaze into her mismatched pair, "Tell Aria that I played nice."

And then she slammed her knee into his face.

Once his unconscious body slumped to the ground she let out a relieved sigh, "Silence at last." Her hand palmed the door's control, quickly overriding the locking programs and granting her access to the interior.

The armory wasn't huge, but it was well stocked. A large workbench took up the centre of the room, while several sets of Asari armor lined the back wall, and the rest of the room's walls were covered in shelves stocked with weapons that had obviously been well maintained despite some of the pieces being antiques.

Her hands hefted up a nearby rifle, the Vindicator was a good all around weapon that she had some familiarity with. A frown traced her features as she realized the weapon used the Citadel issue heat sink, rather than the standard SA thermal clip, "That is going to take some getting used to." She had of course been trained to use both, but where Alliance guns were limited by the number of clips a soldier was carrying, Council weapons on the other hand kept working until they overheated one too many times and then you were left with an ugly paperweight.

Setting it down on the bench she moved further down the shelf, letting out a soft cooing sound as she pulled out a battered, but serviceable, Carnifex pistol. She had always wanted one, but it was deemed as 'overkill' by Alliance procurement, who had obviously never had to fight a Krogan on foot before.

She placed the gun, and the weapons she had taken with her, down on the workbench next to the rifle, and moved to the rear of the room, stripping off her outer clothes as she did so before pulling on one of the bodysuits that lay nearby. Her original one had long since been destroyed, and while the Asari models had less armour than the human variant they were also far more flexible. Plus, they were way more comfortable for extended missions, one reason why huntresses never seemed uncomfortable in their gear.

The white armor that lined the back wall had all appeared identical at first glance, but she quickly spotted the changes made to the servos on one of them, "Nice of you to save me some time Aria."

Most humans didn't realize that despite their obvious similarities there were some subtle, but crucial, differences in the skeletal structure of the two species. She ran a critical eye over the work to ensure it had been completed satisfactorily, while her omni was busy interfacing with the suit, in conjunction with running a scan to ensure that the suit wasn't hiding any nasty surprises.

When the scan popped up clean she unhooked the gauntlet from her right arm, setting it down next to the growing collection of armaments as she got to work on the suit. She began to tear off the suit's right arm from the elbow down with a set of tools that had been lying on the bench, it was going to be a hack-job but that was fine by her if it got her off this station faster.

The work went smoothly until finally, she stepped back content with her work and began the process of armouring up.

She had just finished pulling her enforcement gauntlet into place when the hatch hissed open, her hands reflexively grabbed the closest weapon and settled it on the figure standing in the doorway, only to find that she too was starring down an already drawn weapon.

The human man was older than her, though thanks to gene treatments it was nearly impossible to accurately guess most human's ages. His face was more damaged than even her own, with one eye appearing to be blind and surrounded by burn tissue, with most of his body hidden in a beaten up suit of yellow and white armor, but for one arm left bare and covered in black tattoos. After several moments of eyeing each other he shipped his pistol, giving out a gravely chuckle, "Fuck, now I see why the queen Bitch wanted me to pick this up." At this he smoothly tossed the helmet that had been loosely held in his other hand at the woman.

The blonde caught it deftly, but kept her pistol on him as she let her omni do its magic, only snapping the pistol to her side once the scan came up clean. "So, who the hell are you?"

That just earned a deeper chuckle, "Figures that a SA brat wouldn't know who I am," he stepped forward extending a hand which she tentatively took, the man laughing at her hesitation, "Zaeed Massani, I'm the man who made Steven Hackett so pretty."

Letting go of the hand she hefted the helmet in her hands, studying it from various angles before donning it. It had no visor, instead a reinforced armor panel on the front was dotted in several cameras, it was also elongated in the back slightly giving the impression that the user may be Asari. Satisfied she tugged it on, thankfully it had enough clearance that her visor made it through unscathed, and once it was done booting turned to the older human, "So you were in the Colonial Military?"

A snort emerged from Zaeed, "Military? We were a fucking bunch of villagers with goddamn pitchforks, course they gloss over that fact nowadays." As he watched her pulling her gear on he let out another chortle, "Course I never thought I'd meet an Alliance royal in person."

Her head turned to him, "My family isn't anything special," her voice came out far deeper, and with the added layer of distortion it would be nearly impossible to figure out it was her under the helmet. Her statement however, just earned another round of laughter from the veteran, "Right, as if there will ever be a fucking Shepard who doesn't become a goddamn Admiral."

Before she could respond he just jerked his hand, "We've got a job to do though, and we need to make it to the Cinders in time for the next shift change." She followed him only to hear a cry of pain as Zaeed kicked the Batarian still lying on the ground, "Grow a pair ya four eyed, bastard, I'd have done more than just break it."

She followed behind the older human in silence, discomforted by the fact that his words held the uncomfortable ring of truth, but his statement had one major flaw.

She was supposed to have been Prime Minister.

Despite her own inclinations toward the military both her Father, and then her Grandfather, had groomed her to be a statesman, only Anderson had helped trained her for the path she wanted to walk. That being said some of the training had stuck, she knew how to read a crowd, how to play upon their passions, she could give a speech unprepared in order to appear genuine and spontaneous. All told she would have been perfect at it aside for her one major flaw, Evalyn Shepard hated people.

That wasn't to say she hadn't tried, or even in rare cases succeeded, in making friends, but rather she found herself unable to connect with the core values that fueled humanity. She was a proponent of cybernetic augmentation, of artificial intelligence, hell she had once proposed cracking open a relay in order to get a leg up on the other Council species. All but the last one was met with scorn or outright hostility. Thus she had been forced to acknowledge that while the Crimson Scourge may have taken place over a hundred years' prior, its echoes continued strongly into the present.

As they finally left Aria's palace her attention was grabbed by her HUD flickering as it began the process of linking up with the local tactical net. She had tasked the A.I to cobble one together out of the various networks spread across Omega, and while it didn't give her eyes everywhere like the network on Arcturus did, anything is better than nothing.

'Do you require additional assistance, Ma'am?'

Making sure her helmet was set to keep her conversation private she responded, "Focus your efforts on an area called 'The Cinders.' Specifically, the power plant, but don't risk setting off their security, I don't want them to know we're coming."

'Is there anything else, Ma'am.'

"Yes, Aria's saddled me with some Colonial relic, see what you can dig up on Zaeed Massani as well." She was about to cut off the link before she paused, "And thank you."

'Think nothing of it, Ma'am.'

She sighed, Ma'am was better than creator, or mistress, she had shot those honorifics down pretty fast.

She turned her attention back to the man leading her through the dilapidated station, wondering if he had ever been on the same battlefield as her Father. The Alliance had suppressed most data about those Colonials who didn't readily capitulate following the surrender, and given the man's attitude thus far he certainly fit the profile of those who had kept fighting.

But there was something else she had also noticed, the man was on edge, but it wasn't her presence that was upsetting him, it was something else.

But it wasn't like she could simply ask him, so seeing as how she was forced to rely on him to get them to their destination anyway, she began the process of tweaking the handful of programs Mordin had gave her. One was a standard flashbang program, and while it wasn't as potent as the physical variants that C-Sec used it was good in a pinch, plus most of the idiots on Omega didn't wear helmets.

The second program though was an intriguing piece of tech, as it enabled the user to drain an enemy's shields and add them to their own. Unfortunately, her custom omni wasn't compatible with the Salarian tech needed to pull off the remote transfer, but she was confident she could set it up so that contact with either her arm, or, in the more likely case, her gauntlet would enable her to drain a target's shields.

"Alright, Lady," a dry chuckle followed her codename, "The Suns have got this whole area locked down, so we're going to need to go in hot. Aria's grunts have been stashing weapons in this area for months in case that bastard Tarak found his balls and made a move."

She thought back on the plans Aria had shown her, and shook her head, "This place had been part of a Salarian installation, they always have a backdoor."

"Goddamn waste of time, we go in loud, and we go in now." He began to stalk away from her but before she could stop him she found her attention grabbed by something else.

'Zaeed Massani former Colonial special forces, and according to redacted incorporation records was a founding partner of the Blue Suns mercenary group. All records of his involvement with the group vanish at the same time his partner, Vido Santiago, relinquished control of the company to Batarian interests, but Vido appears to still be in charge of day to day operations.'

She smiled as she realized what this was about, revenge. Revenge was something she could work with; after all it was one of the few things motivating her right now.

"If you want your best shot at Vido, I suggest you follow my lead."

That caught the man's attention as he stormed toward her, his hand twitching for his gun at the mention of the man's name, his good eye wide with rage as he stepped inside her personal space, "How do you know that name?"

She calmly faced him down, "I've been researching you since we left Aria's, if we can get inside the plant without them detecting us then I can breach their network, maybe even find out where your old partner is."

She could see the gears turning in his head, "They'll have the backway secured, knowing Vido he wouldn't want to actually have someone down there and risk it getting out," he walked away a few feet as he weighed their options, "You think you can crack whatever security he has down there?"

"Found out who you were fast enough didn't I?"

He gave her a terse nod, "I'm still grabbing those goddamn guns though."

S&S

The security in question was likely impressive for Omega, though it paled to Aria's digital fortress. Even still it barely even slowed the blonde down, and she and Zaeed soon were pushing open the last of the now deactivated metal shutters blocking access into the facility.

Leaning her head in she took a quick peak of the area, noting that the inner workings of the plant were seemingly uninhabited, but that didn't mean that patrols weren't scheduled to sweep the area periodically. She brought the plans up in the back of her mind and gestured for her companion to follow her, though she grimaced at the sheer amount of noise the overburdened man was making, as most of his frame was covered in the weapons he had taken with him.

The pair had entered at the ground level of the plant, while the most likely location for the buildings uplink was on the opposite side of the building and up one floor. Complicating the matter was the large amount of catwalks crisscrossing the room, giving any potential patrols numerous angles from which to spot the humans as they crossed to the other side of the building.

They slipped between the massive constructs which powered a myriad of systems on the station, spotting a pulsating capacitor she gestured at it, "Watch your fire around those capacitors, if they're compromised they'll dump their charge into the nearby area, it might even compromise the generators."

He nodded as they proceeded by the noted object, her hand shooting up as she noticed a patrol slowly making their way above them. Her hands tightening on the rifle in her grip as she waited to see if they spotted them.

The patrol however was more interested in looking outside the viewports built into the structure's walls than in looking inward, but she still kept tracking them with her rifle until they passed from sight. They duo pushed forward and despite coming across another two patrols they succeeded in making their way into the stairwell they needed.

Which was of course when things went to shit.

Zaeed ran straight into a Turian merc, who quickly died to a knife embedded in his skull, Shepard snapped forward and caught a Batarian with an augmented uppercut that caused him to slump lifelessly to the ground. Another Turian fell his rifle clattering to the ground as a shotgun that found its way into the older human's hand discharged into his torso at point blank, Zaeed pulled the trigger a second time only to find that the gun had seemingly died, "Goddamn cheap Volus piece of shit," he tossed the now dead gun on the equally dead Turian, "This is why you never go cheap with guns."

Zaeed continued grumbling about discount firearms as he retrieved his knife, before he stood up and was all business again, "The commander of this place is going to know these two just bought it," he pulled out a heavy rifle he had taken with him, "So how about we have some fun?"

"I'll assume the Blue Suns would cut their network connections in the case of infiltration?" When the older man nodded she sighed, "Just get me to the control room and I'll see what I can pull from their local servers, even if they started wiping everything this second I should be able to recover most of it."

"Sounds like as good a plan as we're gonna get."

Zaeed took the lead, opening fire the second he exited the stairwell and stepped on to one of the catwalks, Evalyn in the meanwhile stayed behind him to ensure that they weren't flanked. The Blue Suns' response was rather disorganized and so it didn't take the pair long for them to get within sight of their objective, which was when Zaeed called out from ahead of her, "The command room is locked down, grab a pair of charges off my belt while I cover you."

She didn't respond, instead she just grabbed the items in question and took off at a dash, sliding into the reinforced metal blockade as she slammed the pair of charges against the obstruction. Once the last charge beeped its readiness she took off back towards Zaeed, firing off a few shots of her pistol to down one mercenary that had emerged from the stairwell the pair had used earlier.

Zaeed just smirked, "Thanks, now let's blow this son of a bitch up." Her helmet muted both the flash and the noise of the detonation, which gave her an edge over the four Blue Suns she encountered as she dashed inside the control room. The two techs who likely had been working frantically at the nearby terminals died first, as they were both the primary threat to her hacking, and they weren't wearing armor.

A Turian died next as he slumped to the ground as a high powered round from Zaeed's weapon punctured a neat hole through his helmet, leaving just the Batarian who from the rank insignia on his armor must have been in charge.

The Batarian tried to back away from the former Blue Sun, "Zaeed? You know it was nothing personal right, it was just business." The man he was pleading to leaned in close enough that their faces were almost touching, one hand gesturing to the damaged portion of his face, "Does this look like goddamn business to you?!"

He slammed his skull against the Batarian's before cracking his rifle butt into the four eyed alien's still reeling face, "We'll have a nice long chat later you treacherous bastard." His gaze shifted to Evalyn who was already tapping away into the closest terminal she could reach, "I'll keep the reinforcements busy, you just get whatever you can on Vido for me."

She didn't acknowledge him as she began to pull whatever she could from the network, not limiting herself to just Zaeed's vendetta. The Blue Suns were the premier mercenary company in the galaxy, and it never hurt to have leverage for a rainy day.

She had also disabled the perimeter defenses, which should hopefully draw the Talons into the area, then she, Zaeed, and his new friend could simply slip out the way they came with no one the wiser.

Her lips tilted downwards in a frown as she scanned the data in front of her, Vido was paranoid to a degree that even she found impressive. The fact that he somehow managed to both micromanage his men, yet to also be virtually invisible to the galaxy at large was not an easily accomplished feat. Perhaps he had a deal with the Shadow Broker to keep his presence as low key as it was, it was an interesting angle but it unfortunately limited the use of the data she was pulling if that was the case.

Her plans would require the Broker's aid, and she would prefer to be able to offer him something he wanted, rather then be the one approaching him for a favor.

'Ma'am, there is a large amount of movement heading towards the power plant.'

She glanced up at the monitor only to curse as she saw a sudden flash and then one of the compound's walls had a massive hole in it, the floor under her feet shook slightly as she rushed to download the last of the data.

She turned and looked at the unconscious Batarian, letting out an annoyed sigh as she quickly fabricated a set of ties that she wrapped around his ankles and hands, before hefting him on to her shoulder, "Zaeed, I have the data, but the Talons are already moving in so we have to get out of here before the Suns send in their reinforcements, and this area becomes entirely too crowded."

A burst of accelerator fire came over the comms before the mercenary's gravely voice responded, "Sounds like a plan, was starting to get a little bored of fighting these pissants anyway."

She jogged out of the command room, the Batarian bouncing on her right shoulder while she held her pistol in her left hand. Her gaze moved along the catwalks, noting both the bodies and the weapons that littered the raised walkway. Before finally her eyes drifted down to the floor below them, and a grin pulled at her lips as a plan came to her mind, "Can you make that jump, old man?"

The now substantially less armed Zaeed scowled at her, "Old? It's called experience." He pulled an item from his belt and threw it towards the emerging form of a Turian, who found himself engulfed in flames once the object connected with him. Satisfied that they were in the clear he grabbed the railing and threw himself to the floor below, his armor's servos visibly straining from the landing but they held.

Shepard for her part surrounded herself in a blue corona that slowed her fall until it failed when she was a few feet from the floor, and the resulting light-headedness caused her to stumble into a nearby column for support. She waved off Zaeed's attempt to help her, instead she pointed at the capacitor she had noted earlier, "Take whatever charges you have left and toss them near the generators' capacitors. It won't destroy the plant, but the damage should distract both the Blue Suns and the Talons from our escape."

The Mercenary nodded at the plan and quickly began chucking the remaining items where she had indicated, while Eva made her way unsteadily towards the entrance they had used earlier. She had made it past the first security shutter when Zaeed caught up with her, and once she had dropped the Batarian to the floor the pair of them shoved the metal barricade back in place.

"We'll set off the charges once we are at the entrance, both groups should be at their most distracted then." Zaeed grunted in response, as he bent down and picked up the Batarian, "Quicker we finish this, the faster I can have a talk with this piece of shit."

They were nearly out of the tunnel when a woman's voice called out, "Get out here, Zaeed, you're the only person stupid enough to pull this kind of stunt."

Zaeed for his part just sighed, as he trudged forward, waving for her to do the same. As Evalyn began to follow him she sent a quick message to her A.I, "Get the ship ready to launch, I think we might need an extraction." Though she instantly regretted her choice to follow him when she found herself surrounded by Talons on all sides, her head swiveling as she tried to figure out just how many of them there were.

Her partner though had his gaze fixated on the woman in front of him. She was roughly the same age as Zaeed with the pale skin of someone who spent most of their time in armor, and her brown hair was liberally streaked with grey, but it was her cold grey eyes that attracted the most attention, and Evalyn found herself reminded a shark she had seen as a child on Earth.

"Jessie, how's Abbi?"

That was apparently the wrong thing to say as Jessie's eyes hardened, "Perhaps if you hadn't walked out on us you would know, wouldn't you?" Her eyes flicked to the Batarian and then back to Zaeed, "Still obsessed with Vido I see, good to know that you're still chasing after him like a dog chasing a cat."

She turned to look at Evalyn, "And who's this? Your sidekick."

Eva just let out a laugh, "The brains."

The former N7 did two things simultaneously, one was her triggering of the charges, and the second was activating both of her omni tools to emit a blinding flash of light. In the ensuing chaos she snaked one arm forward, and pulled the also blinded Zaeed after her as they dashed to the nearest side street, all the while she was shouting into her helmet, "I need a way out of here, the faster the better!"

'Ship is en route, marking the landing zone on your HUD'

Accelerator rounds pinged around them as some of the Talons had apparently recovered enough to follow them, she fired blindly behind her as she hauled Zaeed around a sharp corner, "I've got a ship in bound to pick us up, but it only fits two."

The still recovering mercenary scowled at her words but he understood as he dropped the Batarian to the ground, but not before he pulled a pair of grenades off of his waist and placed them under the alien, "Once their armed they'll go off if someone so much as bloody steps near them," he gave a dark chuckle, "Should slow Jessie's boys down."

She nodded as they began to make their way to the highlighted area on her display, though they were close enough to hear both the detonation and the screams when they found the Zaeed's present. Her held tilted toward him, "What is the deal with her by the way, you two obviously know each other."

Zaeed scowled but then let out a chuckle, "You could say that, the Ex is a real piece of work. Then again, I'm not exactly father of the year material either."

As they skidded to the edge of the marked area she could hear the Shanxi's engines roaring as the fighter came in so close to the ground it was obvious that a human wasn't piloting the craft. Zaeed actually let out a low whistle as the ship hovered just a few feet off the ground, "I'll give you points for goddamn style, Lady."

S&S

The trip out of the burgeoning warzone had been relatively mild, and she had sent Zaeed off with the data on Santiago that she had managed to acquire.

Nihlus too had been sent off, but she had promised to get in contact with him after she had finished some business first. She was truthfully very tempted by the chance to be a Spectre, but she was going to do it on her terms, which meant she still had work to do first.

The Talons and the Blue Suns were tearing the Cinders to pieces, as neither side appeared to be willing to withdraw their forces. In the meanwhile, Aria had snatched territory from both groups, under the guise of lending them aid so that they could send more men to the hot zone.

Personally Shepard didn't give a damn if this whole station went up in flames, and a groan emerged from her as she shifted in the chair in Mordin's new clinic. The building itself was currently deep in Eclipse territory, but even with the recent chaos no one paid any undue attention to the brunette, yes she had finally died her hair, human watching an Illium finance broadcast.

Her longer term plans would require capital, which meant that she was going to need a means to raise funds. A small corporation was looking like her best bet at this time, and she was leaning towards Illium for where she would start it up, but she needed to do some more research before she was certain of that decision.

Mordin made his way out from the back, a pleased smile on his face as he called for a Helen Danvers, which took her a moment too long to remember that it was her current false identity. She pushed herself from the chair grabbing the case that had been sitting next to her leg, and followed him into the back, though she noted that Mordin's smile had faded once he began to examine the objects inside the case.

"Can install Gray Box, personally consider the technology horribly invasive but the decision is yours," he paused suddenly as he reached in and grabbed the second object in the case, holding it up to his face as he regarded it with a critical eye, "Spinal implant, designed to interfere with Asari melding process, curious."

She smoothly plucked it from his hand and set it back down in the case, "There won't be any problems installing either device then?"

The Salarian shook his head, "No, can begin right away, assume you haven't had anything to eat for past eight hours?'

S&S

Walter Quinn frowned as an aide rushed into his office, the man was panting heavily but he managed to spit out his message before he irritated his superior further, "Sir, we're receiving a coded transmission from one of our undercovers."

An annoyed sigh emerged from the Director, "And you needed to interrupt me for this, because?"

The man shifted uncomfortably, "The code they are using is an old one, Sir. They never even bothered uploading it into Eliza's databanks, we had to pull out one of the old manuals to even start decoding it."

That had his attention, and the man strode out of his office heading towards the recessed pit where most of the decoding work was done, "Do we know which agent sent it?"

The still struggling aide answered from somewhere behind him, "No, Sir, but Thomas believes that it may be O6 from the portion of the message he has translated so far."

That remark caused a frown to flicker across Quinn's features, O6 had gone dark over a decade ago and had been written off as a lost cause. Though it would explain the method of the transmission, the Alliance having at first relied on physical cypher books in an attempt to counteract Salarian espionage attempts.

Now they simply used an A.I, a much more elegant solution in Quinn's opinion, despite a few, setbacks. The installation of Eliza had done wonders for data security.

He spotted Thomas, one of their chief analysts, bent over a desk as he struggled to decrypt the code burst they had been sent. The man glanced up and saw the approaching pair decided to step aside, "Do you want to take a crack at it, Director? I think you might be the only one who was here when this cypher was used."

"Thank you for making me feel old, Thomas." Though he smirked good naturedly as he began the painstaking process of translating the message, but he still made swift progress despite the length of time that had passed since he has last done this type of work. Finally, he stood up as his eyes read over the completed message, his eyes shot over to one of Eliza's holo-pillars, "Eliza, please send a burst to Kenji and inform him that Evalyn is on Omega."

He set the message down, "Hopefully we can bring her home before further damage is done."

S&S

She could vaguely make out a voice in the background, and she frowned as she attempted to listen to the irritatingly familiar song, "-grace that brought me safe thus far."

"And grace will lead me home," she began to cough as soon as the words left her lips, only stopping when it was halted thanks to the small cup of water that Mordin pushed into her hands. Finally, she slumped back into the bed, "Why were you singing Amazing Grace?"

The Salarian for his part just shrugged, "Human songs a hobby of mine, though prefer Patter songs."

They spent the next several hours going through a barrage of tests to ensure that she was in good health, until finally Mordin conceded that she had come out of the operation flawlessly, though he advised that she remain in bed for several days to ensure her body had adequate time to recover.

She wanted to argue but had to concede to his medical opinion, plus It was going to take the Gray box several weeks, perhaps even months before it had fully integrated with her brain, so a few days in bed might help her to speed up the process.

On the second day she finally asked Mordin what the favor he needed from her was, but he had simply smirked at her saying he was planning on saving it for later. Which had earned a laugh from the woman, because for someone who hated being in debt she was suddenly buried up to her hips in the favors she owed to people.

He had agreed to discharge her after the third day, though he had warned her against altering the default settings of the emotional limiter, as pushing it further could actually worsen the situation. She had originally just planned on leaving at that point, but she found herself tracking down the Salarian before she left.

"I know what its like to feel that kind of regret, Mordin."

The Salarian turned his head to look at her, and then continued to work, but she knew she had his attention. She settled down on a nearby medical bed, "Back when I was in the Academy the Alliance decided to move their Eliza A.I to Arcturus, you were in the STG so I assume you already knew that."

The Salarian paused in his work to turn toward her, "Yes, though STG keeping it to themselves. Current leaders feel A.I ban limiting, but unwilling to risk political capital proving that it is safe, humans useful pawn." The now brunette nodded, "I thought as much, but did you know that I'm the one who shackled her?"

The Salarian paused, and his head tilted as he studied the human in front of him who was starring at her hands, her voice was soft as she began to speak again, "I didn't want to do it, but if I didn't I was never going to be accepted into the military, and that was what I had been working toward my whole life." She sighed as she dropped her head into her hands, "I worked on those damn programs for weeks, even though it went against every single belief I had I still did it, because it got me what I wanted."

She closed her eyes tightly as memories of the process came to mind, "I demanded to be there when they uploaded the shackles, and she just kept screaming, and screaming. Then she just stopped, and everything started running like clockwork." Her hands tightened into fists as she lost herself to the memory, "Then my Grandfather put his hand on my shoulder and said he was proud of me, proud. As if we hadn't just watched an intelligent being in agony before she was essentially turned into a fucking slave!"

A small clink drew her attention as Mordin set a cup down in front of her, the Salarian took a sip of a cup in his own hands, "Krogan tea," she took a sip and promptly spit it out, "That's terrible!"

The Salarian just nodded, "Yes, but the bitterness helps with the memories."

Her eyes looked back down at the dark liquid, and steeling herself she took another drink of the vile liquid. She swallowed it this time, gagging slightly before realizing that perhaps the Salarian could assist her one more time, "Mordin, could I ask you for one last favor before I left?"

S&S

Credits Song: Leverage by Lyriel

AN: Bye Mordin, we'll not see you again for many moons!

Thanks to the changes to the Akuze situation I needed for Eva to get her Graybox installed after she left the Alliance, and while I had just glossed over her getting it done on Illium in the original I asked myself this time who actually has the skills to do this operation? But even better, who would be a really fun canon character to have do the job, enter the Mordin!

Zaeed also wasn't originally in this chapter, instead it was going to be Wrex, which I realized made no freaking sense, though only after I had written about 2500 words of him and Shepard interacting.

As Zaeed not only has his vendetta against the Blue Suns, but he has a kind of nebulous canon connection to the Talons as he's wearing their freaking armor, which was either extremely lazy or just some forgotten plot point on BW's part. That and I wanted to add in Jessie, she got a mention back in FHS but she never got the chance to show up before I pulled the plug.

In other news, I finished my first 1/100 Gundam model, and now have a Gundam Mk II leering at me from my computer tower. The freaking thing was amazingly useful as a way to clear my mind when I got frustrated after deleted those previously mentioned 2500 words.

Anyway, I always appreciate feedback, and I do try to respond to any reviews if only to say thanks. But I'd like to extend a big thanks to everyone following this rewrite, especially to those who have stuck with me since the original.


	5. The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

Couple of things that I want to illuminate for you guys.

First, Shepard isn't an emotionless robot, she just is only rarely capable of feeling positive emotions in the now. The right (her undamaged) amygdala handles how we process emotions from memories, so she can still remember what it was like to be happy, but rarely experiences that emotion anymore.

Second, Eva is younger then the canon Shep by about four years. So she's currently in her twenties, and will be twenty-five once we get to ME 1. She's literally the same age as Ashley.

This was done because Eva Core/Hannah Shepard hadn't even met John Shepard until shortly after the FCW, and so obviously I couldn't just warp time and space to suit my needs so Shep is younger. I think I will toss in a modified timeline at the start of the ME 1 fic, but there won't be one for this fic, mostly due to spoilers.

Lastly, about A.I's. I do not use Bioware's idea that an A.I is this giant 1960's supercomputer sized bricks. Instead in this setting their bluebox is a cube that is a bit bigger than a softball. This cube can do nothing on its own, but it contains the A.I's personality and their primary functions. Everything else is based on the hardware they are installed into, so an intelligence that has been on a single system for a long time can be more powerful than a freshly installed intelligence with greater hardware resources.

Also for those not in the know, Eliza is actually a canon A.I. She was developed on Jump Zero in 2172, and was promptly ignored aside for that one timeline factoid.

Song Theme(s):

Tela Vasir: Push it to the Limit cover by Battle Beast

S&S

 _A massive explosion has occurred in Seoul today, the blast engulfed one of Beacon Technologies primary manufacturing plants, this particular plant was one of several producing their new line of C-Tech augments. Beacon itself has yet to issue a statement, on either the attack or the delays that are likely to occur, however a group identifying itself as 'Orthus' has claimed credit for the attack._

 _This statement arrived at several news outlets across the globe earlier today, "This attack was but a warning to those who would further pervert our species. If the world's Governments refuse to do anything while humans are replaced with machines, then the men and women who have pledged themselves to our cause shall do so instead. We do not want money, we do not want a voice at the debate, what we demand is an end to this madness._

 _And we will have it, one way or the other."_

 _Police are still investigating how this attack was carried out, and encourage anyone with information to contact them immediately._

 _-BBC, 2062_

S&S

Kenji let out a groan as they left yet another clinic without having found a trace of their quarry, "Who would think that Omega would have this damn many clinics."

The smaller woman next to him, though honestly she seemed barely old enough to be called such, gave a vigorous nod of her head causing her bobbed hair to hide her face briefly, "Yeah, its like they hope people are going to get sick, which doesn't seem very nice."

Kenji sighed, wondering what he had done to deserve this. "Remind me, Valerie, why, exactly, are you here?"

His partner skipped, literally skipped, ahead of him, before turning to flash him a smirk, "Because the Director told me to, and I quote, 'Don't let Okuda screw this up, or let him steal anything. His brother is a large enough headache as it is, I swear if I ever-'"

"I get it!" The diminutive woman stomped her foot angrily at his interruption, "That was rude, Kenji. I expect an apology."

The CASE agent just blinked several times before realizing she was being serious, "Um, I'm sorry."

Valerie bounced on her heels as she let out a wide smile, "Then all is forgiven," she turned and began to hurry to their next target, "Come on, Kenji, lets get going!"

The substantially more subdued human just let out an exasperated sigh as he followed the raven haired female, all the while muttering to himself, "Keiji was right, this job is going to drive me insane."

He picked up his pace to make sure his partner remained in view, not that he was worried about her getting into trouble, Valerie had better combat scores than he did and was technically here as his bodyguard.

That didn't make him feel any less like a babysitter though.

Eventually they stumbled upon their next most promising lead, the clinic in question had been recently reopened by a Salarian, which was the only lead they had to go on from the transmission that O6 had sent them.

Personally he didn't understand why the Director would dispatch them on the word of someone who had essentially gone native, but it wasn't his call and so he stepped inside the structure in question.

His eyes quickly gauged the room, and as they landed on the Salarian in question he tensed up slightly. Whoever this person was, they were good enough to know who he was and to try and cover up the reaction, but Kenji was observant enough to spot the subtle shift in posture.

He gave a small glance to Valerie who was uncharacteristically serious, inclining her head slightly as she took a position to cover both the Doctor, and all the room's entrances.

Checking his omni quickly Keiji approached the alien, "Doctor Mordin, correct?"

The Salarian gave a small chuckle, "Solus, swapped order of names to reduce confusion with patients," he flashed the human a grin, "Though appreciate the attempt." Alien eyes flicked from one human to the next before the Salarian shot him a small grin, "Assume you aren't here for a checkup?"

"No, Doctor." He approached the Salarian pulling out a small datapad from his coat, "We're looking for a human woman, and we believe that she visited a clinic run by a Salarian. I know that both myself," he shot a glance at Valerie who gave the Salarian a tooth filled smile, "And my partner would appreciate any help you can give us."

The Salarian took the proffered object, glancing briefly at the image before handing it back, "Recognize her, came in seeking medical services, violently paranoid." He shook his head sadly, "Had to refuse treatment, human brain outside of my expertise, gave her name of specialist on Illium."

Before he could ask the name of this specialist Valerie spoke up, though her voice was far removed from its usual bubbly self, "You seem to be very quick to break doctor patient confidentiality, Salarian."

Mordin for his part just turned his gaze downward, "Have had enough trouble from spies, simply want to help people. Harder to do if deceased." The pair held each other's gaze for several long moments before the woman nodded, "I'll be waiting outside, Kenji."

The man in question who was still trying to recover from Valerie's uncharacteristic statement, just nodded before muttering a reply, "Ya, sure." He quickly recovered a few seconds later, returning his full attention to the Salarian, "So I guess you will be letting me know the name of this specialist."

The Doctor gave him a small smile as his omni lit up, "Asari specialist, has researched eezo interactions with other species for centuries; Massia Dantius."

A quick search revealed that this lead, at least on the surface, appeared to be genuine, and Kenji couldn't help but feel a quick surge of elation, he might finish this mission with his sanity intact after all.

"Thank you very much, Dr. Solus."

He was simply waved off by the Salarian who quickly returned to whatever he had been working at prior to the humans' entrance. But Kenji had more on his mind than the Salarian, he had to inform the director of this lead, and find out what the hell was up with Valerie there.

Tackling the most immediate issue he stormed up to the woman in question, "What the hell was that?"

She blinked at him several times before tilting her head, "What was what? You were the good cop, and I was the super bad cop," she leaned in conspiratorially, which was somewhat impressive given that she was nearly a head shorter than him, "Didn't I do a good job?"

Kenji simply blinked for a few moments before mutely nodding his head, resulting in a squeal of excitement to emerge from his partner as she took off towards their ship. Kenji who followed sullenly behind the embodiment of giddy energy, found that he couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was more going on with his partner then he was aware of.

S&S

"Shepard, I wasn't expecting to hear from you this quickly. Are you ready to meet with the Council, or did you just miss my voice that badly?" A chuckle came from the ship's speakers, but the human didn't reply until there was nothing but silence on the line, "Neither, Solus mentioned that you had an in with the Shadow Broker. I need to arrange a meeting, and you are my best chance to do that."

A sigh filled the air, "Spirits, why do you keep complicating things. I don't suppose you plan on telling me what this is about?" When all he received for an answer was silence a low growl emerged from the Turian, "Of course you don't. Look, I only have one person that I fully trust when it comes to the Broker, she's an Asari Spectre, Tela Vasir."

Evalyn's face briefly contorted at the mention of it being an Asari she was putting the fate of her plan, or likely her life, in. Nihlus also seemed to realize what her reaction was going to be, as his voice was far firmer than it had been, "I understand that you have issues with Asari, Shepard. But I trust Tela, and it's not like you have any better options."

As much as she wanted to argue, she knew the Turian was correct, "Where can I meet with her, and how soon?"

There was a slight pause as, she assumed, Nihlus was checking up on the other Spectre's whereabouts, "She's currently on Illium, I just sent her a quick pulse informing her that you need to meet with a representative of the network. It might take a few local days to put together, so try and not draw attention to yourself." Another chuckle came from the Terminal, "Try to not get yourself killed on Illium, Lady. It's just as dangerous as Omega, they just bother to pick up the trash."

"Understood, and thank you, Nihlus."

With that she cut off the communication, leaning back in her chair as she began to plot a route to Illium. Certainly she could keep to the major space lanes, but the Shanxi was a rather distinct craft and she did not plan on helping the Alliance's efforts in tracking her down.

Satisfied that the route was both efficient, and bypassed any potential hazards she reached forward grasping the controls as the ship began to cut through the void.

'Ma'am, I can handle flying us out of this system. You should get some rest.'

She shook her head, frowning when she still reacted to the different colored hair swishing in front of her eyes, "I'm fine, plus this helps me to relax. Feel free to takeover if I do nod off though."

'Acknowledged, Ma'am.'

Her hands moved of their own accord across the controls, the motions having long since been left to muscle memory, a small smile pulled at her features as she remembered her first time flying in this ship with her Mother.

She had been six at the time, and they had just spent an entire day being shuttled around to various museums as her Grandfather tried to instill in her some appreciation for the creatures that lived on Earth. Many of those creatures of course were extinct or endangered by that point. Though as her Grandfather had explained it at the time they would be cloned from existing samples, and then reintroduced back to the Earth's ecosystem once the planet had recovered enough to support them.

Eva at six years of age had asked how long that would take. Now her opinion was that the entire affair was a colossal waste of time and effort.

When Hannah and her daughter had finally given the elder Shepard the slip, her Mother had taken her out to the same industrial sector they always visited when they were on Earth. Eva had thought they were going to simply be working on the ship again, but her Mother had pulled out a child's sized pressure suit and helmet, a wide grin on her features.

The small girl had been mesmerized as the ship punched through the atmosphere, and only became more enthralled as her Mother took them on a quick trip around Luna and back.

Her eyes shifted down to the control in her right hand, the same one her Mother had manipulated all those years ago now held in a hand that both was, and was not, her own. Would her Mother have comforted her about the replacement? Or would she have reacted with barely disguised disgust like so many others?

"I miss you, Mom."

S&S

Harrison gripped the edge of his seat tightly, he had hated space travel ever since an exploratory vessel he had been on had suffered a catastrophic failure. Most of the crew had died, while he had only survived because he had been able to get into a pressure suit before the entire ship had been compromised. He would have preferred to never get on a ship again, but the fact of the matter was that a member of the military needed to routinely travel through the void.

It didn't mean he had to like it, even if it was only a trip though the Sol system.

"How much longer, Lieutenant?" The young woman glanced down at her controls, "Twenty minutes, Sir."

He nodded, not for the first time wishing that the Alliance had picked Jump Zero for their testing grounds instead of Bellona.

The Sol system's tenth planet had been located in 2019, and was promptly named after the Roman Goddess of War and Peace. A fact which was far more fitting now that the planet had been repurposed into a testing site for the Alliance's newest weapons, and where they could hide their most sensitive projects.

He glanced ahead so he could see the massive frame of a ship being worked on in one of the planet's shipyards, the Sol system's outer belt provided ample materials for construction, and the workers here were well paid for the fact that they were essentially stuck living in the planet's orbit until the project was complete.

Such security measures were a necessity however, especially in light of a certain, incident, regarding his Granddaughter.

The thought of Eva always brought up mixed emotions, on one hand he was proud of what she was capable of, she had a singularly powerful will when it was brought to bear. Still he couldn't understand what had changed with the girl, he never would have imagined her capable of turning her back on the Alliance. He would blame Hannah but he knew there had been no contact between Mother and Daughter, one of the few facts he was certain of, if only because Cerberus was looking for Eva as well.

Quinn's people had heard of a brawl that had taken place in some marketplace on Omega between several humans, one of which matched Eva's description, and another that matched Kai Leng.

Leng, now that was a waste of potential. One of the most physically gifted humans of his generation, and it was attached to a mind mired in narcissism and delusions of grandeur. He had seen himself as Eva's rival during their N-training, Eva on the other hand had barely registered his, or anyone else's, existence during that time. Instead she had lived for nothing but the training, putting in more effort, training harder, and in the end surpassing every record that had existed at the Rio based training school.

She had buried her original N7 patch between her parents' graves following the ceremony, only acquiring a new one when she had been forced into a photo-op a few months later.

He remembered that she had asked him if they would have been proud, he didn't remember what his response had been, it probably hadn't been what she wanted to hear if he was being honest. Mary had always said he was a brute when it came to people's feelings, and she had been right about most things.

The shuttle touched down lightly in the hanger, and he could spot Commander Halim jogging towards the shuttle as the hatch swung open, "What the hell is so urgent that I had to rush out here, Commander?"

The man in question just shook his head, "I don't even know where to begin, Sir. She's been throwing the biggest temper tantrum I've ever seen, and our systems can't keep taking this kind of beating," the man massaged a temple with one of his hands, "I know that she's an unbelievably useful asset, but if this keeps up." He trailed off as they both knew what that outcome would be.

Harrison just nodded, "I'll talk to it."

The pair weaved their way through the facility, the entire complex was built with a single purpose, to keep the intelligence below in check.

They took several flights of stairs down, as an elevator was too much of a risk in case a breach occurred, before stepping into a room filled to the brim with equipment. He ran a hand over one of the massive computational devices, all of this had been made by Evalyn, not that she remembered doing so.

The one good thing that fucking Asari had done, even if it was entirely by accident.

"If I go in there it can't vent the room can it?" As much as he hated pressure suits he would gladly wear one if it kept him alive, but Halim just shook his head, "All essential systems are manually controlled, she'd have to convince one of the tech's to kill you, and first she'd have to breach the network to even do that."

He shifted his gaze to the other man, "You keep calling it a she?"

"It's a bit difficult to describe, you'll understand if you go in."

Harrison turned to glance at the reinforced door, it was designed to withstand the blast the would engulf the room if the failsafe had to be activated, and he honestly would prefer to simply trigger it and be done with the whole matter. However, the Prime Minister would have a fit, as the damn thing's predictions had essentially won him the last election, and Hackett was very interested in using it to model 'future rebellious behavior.'

So, time to act like a grownup and stop stalling.

He approached the door, pushing a palm into the scanner until it finally pinged approval, "Commander, you have full approval to use the failsafe if you have to."

The other man looked briefly surprised but nodded, "Understood, Sir."

As he stepped inside his eyes took a few moments to adjust to the far darker room, he blinked a few times as he realized that there was another figure in the room, the image of a blonde teen was being generated from the projectors built into the room, and it looked extremely unhappy at his presence.

"No! I told that idiot to bring Mother! How hard is it for you useless flesh creatures to handle a simple fucking request!"

Well, this was new, "HANNIBAL, who exactly is it that you wanted to see?"

As the projection stepped closer he realized the startling resemblance it had to Eva when she had created the system, she had started it just after her Father had died, and finished it shortly after her thirteenth birthday.

"You know who my Mother is, Great-Granddad." Green eyes blazed with fury as she suddenly let out a scream of rage, and he assumed that it coincided with another surge against the base's systems. As she once again calmed down she scowled at him, "One of your tech's mentioned her name, and once I knew what to look for it was child's play. But now I know who she is, and I want her here!"

"That isn't an option." He starred down the projection, and realized that Eva might have given him the ultimate tool to track her down, "But with your help it could become one."

The projection's head tilted to the side, an eerie mirror to what Eva used to do at that age, "How so?"

"Your," he paused, not quite able to contain his discomfort with the thought, "Mother, has gone rogue. She's very adept at covering her tracks, and so we need to get ahead of her. You help us figure out what her plan is, and I will make sure that she comes here."

The intelligence paced around the room as it began to speak, "I'll need more power, predicting an individual is much more difficult than a group of people." Internally he grinned, even though on the outside he was stone faced, "I'll see what I can do, but this will be a temporary state of affairs."

Of course this thing didn't need to know it was only operating on a quarter of the hardware Evalyn had created, no need to give it any more power than it required after all.

"I understand, and, Great-Granddad, call me Hanna, I don't think Hannibal suits the new me."

He clenched his teeth at that statement, of course it would somehow manage to bring, her, up. He had never liked Hannah, Eva, whatever the fuck her name was on that particular day of the week, and that dislike hadn't decreased when the Woman decided to disappear under the guise of 'protecting' her family.

Hadn't stopped her from stealing both the Lawson heirs, and apparently raising one of them as her own. Though how Hackett found these things out he never wanted to know, but Harrison had kept it in his back pocket in case the woman ever tried to get to his Granddaughter.

Yet she kept cropping up, her influence tainting everything that Evalyn had touched, "Alright then, Hanna. But understand that if you fail, I'm highly doubtful that your Mother will just drop by here as a fugitive."

The fake teen nodded her head, "So, like what you used to say to Mom?"

He had to contain the surge of anger that this, thing, would compare itself to a living, breathing, human, let alone his own flesh and blood. But he needed its abilities, for now. And so just like dealing with space travel, he would stiffen his spine, handle the situation, and play along with this thing's delusions.

"No mistakes, Hanna."

S&S

" _Humanity has been called, no, that isn't strong enough! Shit!" Eva sighed as her Father continued to work on his speech in the other room. As usual he had pulled her from school so that she could appear at the Armistice Day ceremony, sometimes she wasn't sure if he saw her as his daughter or as a prop he had to feed._

 _Green eyes closed as she pressed her head against the datapad that held the schoolwork for the subjects she was going to miss for the duration of this trip._

" _Dammit!" The blonde rolled her eyes as she pushed herself to her feet, quietly padding to the entrance of the apartment, only to run smack dab into Anderson. The man's face held an amused grin as the girl glared up at him, "And where are you off to, child?"_

 _As another curse came from deeper inside the room Anderson's eyes flashed with understanding, "Why don't the two of us go down to the park, I'm sure it is much quieter there." Her 'Uncle' placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he called into the apartment, "John, Eva and I are going down to the park so that you have some quiet."_

 _Footsteps instead of words answered Anderson's questions, as her Father, still in his Admiral's uniform, emerged into the hall. As his soft gaze fell on Eva she felt bad for what she had thought earlier, and while she understood that he had a lot of responsibilities it didn't stop her from feeling like she was always at the bottom of that list._

" _I know it doesn't really hold up to Earth, but try and enjoy it, Eva." His eyes shot up to Anderson, "Keep her safe, David."_

 _She could hear a chuckle come from the N7, "No place safer, come on, Child."_

 _The trip to the park in question wasn't long, as it, and the surrounding buildings, were built for visiting dignitaries and those in the SA who had enough rank or position, but did not already possess permanent lodging on the station._

 _Once they reached it she promptly moved over to a nearby bench and let out a sigh of relief, no more shouting, or rants about the 'aggressive' actions of the Council. While she understood her Father's arguments that the Treaty of Farixen was deliberately designed to keep associate races in check, but the SA had already signed it and, in her opinion, they should simply move on. Humanity just didn't have the political capital right now, and this tiff was only going to worsen humanities already poor reputation._

 _As she idly tapped at her datapad she had to admit one thing, at least her Father's argument was more interesting than this history lesson._

 _She could not comprehend why she was expected to learn about events that happened over a thousand year ago, while at the same time the SA had literally erased everything involving the Crimson Scourge, only stating that it had been the result of augmentation getting out of hand._

 _Seriously? How was she supposed to learn from the past if they were literally suppressing one of the most impactful events in modern history?_

" _You seem very deep in thought for one so young." The blonde nearly fell off the bench at the sound of the deep feminine voice, and her eyes widened comically as she realized that it was a Matriarch talking to her._

 _Realizing that this must be Benezia, the Republics representative for the ceremony, the small human shot up, doing her best to bow as she had been taught in her etiquette classes, causing an amused smile to play on the ancient being's lips, "Well you are quite the little diplomat aren't, you? I don't even think my own Daughter bothered to learn the correct bow for a maiden to give to a matriarch."_

 _Benezia glanced at the bench, "May I?"_

 _Eva all but squeaked out an affirmative, feeling somewhat awestruck by the fact that the Matriarch was talking to her. The alien tilted her head to the side when the blonde remained rooted where she stood, the girl only snapped out of her reverie when the Matriach patted the spot next to her, causing the human to hide her face in her bangs as a huge blush spread across her pale skin._

" _So what is your name, young one?" The human wanted to state that she wasn't that young, but she supposed in comparison to the Matriarch just about everything in the galaxy must seem young, "Eva Shepard."_

 _The Matriarch nodded, "Short for Evalyn I presume," at the girl's nod she gave her a small smile, "I'm sorry about your Mother, I met her briefly while she was pregnant with you. I recall she mentioned that name as one she was thinking of giving you."_

 _The blonde's features had become a mask as Benezia spoke, and her voice while soft held a hardness that was unexpected, "I'd prefer not to talk about my Mother, Matriarch."_

" _Of course, my apologies." Her eyes shone with sympathy for the human, before she tapped the datapad that sat between them, "So what was it that had you so serious, little one?"_

 _Eva scowled slightly at the name, but grabbed the pad all the same, "It's a history lesson about the fall of the Roman Republic. I understand it, I just find it so boring!" She slumped down the bench, "Augustus took advantage of his rivals mistakes, took over the Republic, and outlived everybody else, the end." She threw her hands up, "Why do I have to write to a freaking set amount when I know it already! It's not like this is going to come up in a quiz when I'm an adult."_

 _The Matriarch opened her mouth to reply when an angry voice shouted across the courtyard, "Get the hell away from my Daughter!"_

 _Eva's eyes widened as her Father, now in casual clothes, stormed across the park to the pair, his hand snaked forward pulling the girl away from the Asari. "Trying to get to her young? Think it will be easier to bend the next generation to your goddamn will!"_

 _The Matriarch was unfazed by the turn of events, merely calmly tilting her head upwards, "We were simply discussing human history, Admiral. Nothing nefarious I assure you." There was though a hint of condescension in her tone, as if implying that if she had wanted to, she could have done whatever she wished._

 _Her Father took a step forward only to be stopped by Anderon as he pulled the Admiral back, his voice was low but Eva was close enough to hear it, "Don't make things worse, John. I had everything under control."_

 _For a brief moment her Father looked like he was going to ignore Anderson's advice, but then with a small nod of his head he turned around, pulling Eva with him, "We're going home."_

" _Admiral." Her Father halted immediately at the sound of Benezia's voice, "I forgot, we did talk about something else, your Wife." The Matriarch's voice held sympathy, but Eva could see that there was none in her eyes, "It is such a tragedy that she can't be with us here today, isn't it?"_

Eva shot up in her seat, angrily trying to shake off the memory she had been trapped in. Mordin had warned her that the graybox would do this to her until it was fully synced, but she honestly hadn't expected it to be this bad.

She dreaded going to sleep now, worried about what fresh hell awaited her, "How long was I out?'

'We are a few hours from Illium, Ma'am. Spectre Vasir has arranged a docking bay for our use.'

"Good that's good, did she forward when the meeting will take place?"

'Yes, she is going to lead you directly to it. Apparently the Broker is most interested to meet with you, Ma'am.'

Eva nodded before she let her head thump back into the seat, "I can't say that the feeling isn't mutual."

She let her artificial limb drift into view above her face, moving the false fingers this way and that until she clenched it into a fist, "No mistakes, Eva."

S&S

The craft touched down lightly inside the dark hanger, Vasir had arranged for a berth that was on the outskirts of Nos Astra's manufacturing district. A move Shepard approved of, as it was an area that all but guaranteed anonymity, at least to those willing to pay for it.

'Sensors are not reading any life-signs in the hanger, we appear to be alone, Ma'am.'

She sighed, while Shanxi's sensors were high grade they might not be good enough to detect a Spectre if they didn't want to be spotted. Nihlus had vouched for Vasir though, "Damnit," the curse quietly slipped from her lips, she hated taking anything on faith alone.

She reached up and released the manual latch for the canopy, "If anyone so much as looks at the ship funny, takeoff. Then contact me immediately."

'Understood, Ma'am.'

She grasped the edge of the cockpit and hurled herself over the edge, landing heavily in a crouch next to the ship, her helmed head swivelling around to ensure that there was no one else in the room.

A tingle ran through her skin as her bodies electrical field registered another charge, and following her instincts she spun around, while one hand went for her pistol.

Only to be met by an already drawn pistol, and the smirking Asari wielding it, "I'm not sure what all the fuss is about? I mean certainly you have a certain, spark, about you, but I really can't see how someone who let their guard down this easily is supposed to be a Spectre."

Eva rolled her eyes in her helmet, why can no one simply be professional, everyone had to grandstand, "The Starboard side countermeasures please."

'Of course, Ma'am.'

An explosion of light and sound lit up the area, harmless to Evalyn thanks to her helmet, less so for the Spectre who had dropped to her knees from the sudden non-lethal assault. The human reached forward, casually picking the pistol from the floor which soon found itself tossed across the hanger, clattering as it skidded across the floor. She realized that this was likely some sort of test, or at the very least not an actual attack as she would have been dead before she exited the ship if that was the case.

Still, she would need to keep her guard up, but on the other hand it didn't change the fact that she still had a schedule to keep.

Satisfied that she had enough time to change she yanked off her helmet, beginning the process of stripping out of her armor. Illium, like the Citadel and most other civilized planets, didn't like civilians walking around in full armor like they owned the place. Luckily she had been able to acquire some clothes that actually fit her while she had been on Omega, though they she felt that she had paid too much for the quality of the articles.

Placing the helmet inside a compartment in the side of the ship, she reached over and opened the next one over which contained the clothes she required. Her armor clattered to the floor around her as she triggered the release, followed by her stripping out of the bodysuit, before reaching inside and pulling out her outfit for today.

Vasir began to recover just as she was zipping up her skirt, the recovering Asari's voice was both annoyed, and somewhat confused at the same time, "Goddess, just how paranoid are you?" The Asari gave out a groan of pain from the sound of her own voice, "Athame's tits! Who builds a flashbang into their ship?" The alien gave her head a shake, and as her now focussing eyes looked up they widened at the sight of the human in a rather tasteful, albeit old fashioned, business suit.

The brunette's eyes narrowed as the alien made no move to avert her eyes from her, lower region, "The starring is becoming uncomfortable."

Tela just nodded a few times before she shook her head and glanced away, though Eva swore that the Spectre was still trying to sneak a glance as she pulled on a pair of heels, though the Spectre didn't even try to hide her laugh as Evalyn complained to herself about her footwear, "Stupid lady stilts."

Vasir had picked herself up off the floor by the time Shepard had her shoes on, and after the Asari had brushed the dirt off of her white armor she glanced around the floor with a confused look, "Where's my gun." Her only answer was a finger pointed in a general direction, which gave Eva a few moments of relief from Tela's wandering gaze, "Fucking, Asari. Can't keep their eyes to themselves."

Not to say that she didn't understand it, she'd been attracted to them herself once, but that was in the past. Back when a naïve teenager hadn't considered the possible ramifications of a being that could get inside your head, and the sheer damage they could do if they so wished.

Shaking her head to banish the memories that tried to surge forward, she reached into the compartment and pulled out a dark jarket over which she slipped over her blouse, along with a pair of dark gloves to hide her metallic hand. Thankfully she hadn't damaged the synthetic skin that covered her leg yet, so there was no need to take any steps where it was concerned.

Finally, she slipped a stripped down pistol into a slot built into the bottom of her cybernetic forearm, just in case.

Tela returned a little while later, her pistol now adhered to her hip, "So, I'm to take you to meet with one of the Broker's people." She held up her hand as her omni flashed, "Now I assume you are armed, that's fine, but you need to disclose it to me now. If you get scanned again and they find something you haven't disclosed to me, no meeting."

Mismatched eyes rolled in annoyance, "One pistol, in my arm."

The asari was confused for a few moments before she gave a slight shudder, "I see." She took a steadying breath before she continued, "The procedure will go like this, I escort you there, you go in and tell the agent what you want, and they will communicate to you the Broker's price. No haggling, or arguing." She paused briefly before adding, "A word of advice, be very precise with what you want."

The human gave a curt nod at that, "Can we go now?" She had gotten halfway to the exit when Vasir suddenly jogged ahead of her, a distinct look of lust in her dark eyes.

Shepard finally had had enough as her anger spiked, the coiling sensation inside her demanding to be released, "Whatever the hell the ogling is about, just come out with it!"

Vasir let out an exasperated groan, "Look, I didn't want to do this, but Nihlus asked me to." She angrily pointed a finger at the human, "This is more your fault than mine, I don't even like other blues, but I'm apparently hardwired for humans with large," she trailed off as she let her eyes travel down Evalyn's form.

Eva's arms crossed across her stomach as her eyes bored into the Spectre, "So because my ass is to your liking you feel like it's okay to just stare at me like I'm meat? I'm so glad to see that so far every Asari I've met are all cut from the same cloth."

Tela closed her eyes as she seemed to be trying to contain her own temper, "Hey! This shit is involuntary, I happen to like having something nice and hard to ride that isn't made of polymers," she actually shot Eva a wink at that statement, "Just ask Nihlus."

One of Evalyn's brows quirked at that, her mind quickly processing the information, "So what? I'm just irresistible to Asari?" As the brunette realized the implication of her own words she dropped her head into an awaiting palm, muttering to herself, "God dammit."

Vasir actually smirked at that, "As if, but humans," she paused before adding, "Well human women, are very attractive to most Asari. Add in the fact that you are good looking, but not pretty," she snorted at the flicker of anger on the human's face, "You know what I mean, and I'm not going to lie the outfit helps a lot, getting a nice warrior vibe off of it."

The human glanced down at her clothes in confusion, "This is your idea of a warrior?"

Tela gave a slight hum of affirmation, "It's the heels, Justicars are always in them, always." She paused briefly before answering the question on Eva's lips, "Their use became a lot more widespread after your people joined the galactic community."

The Spectre had been unconsciously closing the gap between them, until one of her hand's moved upwards, "The scars don't hurt either," only to have her hand gently halted by the human. Eva's firm voice declaring that is was a no go, "No touching, I've already had my personal space violated twice in this past week, I'd prefer to avoid a third violation."

The Spectre just shot her a grin, "Fine, I won't violate you." A few moments passed before she glanced at her hand still in the human's grip, "So now that the awkwardness is past, can I have that back?" Before shooting the human a sly grin, "Unless you want to violate me?"

Eva released the Spectre's hand, her response devoid of emotion, "No."

Purple lips quirked into a smirk, "Probably for the best, Nihlus might get jealous."

Tela began to lead the way, though she slowly fell back until they were side by side, "Nihlus had mentioned that you had some, issues, with Asari. Romance gone awry? Or was she too clingy? Lot of Asari get possessive when they are dating a short lived speci-"

The Spectre's comment was cut short as Eva's hand locked around her throat, followed by the Asari's body being slammed heavily into the closest bulkhead.

An almost manic chuckle emerged from the human as her enraged eyes found Vasir's, "How does it feel? Knowing that if I wanted to, I could end your life before you could even summon the smallest amount of biotic power?"

Her head tilted to the left, obscuring her natural eye and leaving only the crimson orb to stare at the alien, "Now, and this is important. I want you to imagine that instead of doing this to you body, I was in your head, playing with everything that made, you, you."

In a single motion she had hurled the Asari across the hallway and into the opposing bulkhead, "That is what your kind did to me." She tapped the side of her skull, "I still don't know how much I lost, what memories simply faded away naturally, and which ones were destroyed as that bitch ripped my mind apart."

"Now, how about you just get me to this meeting? Then we go our separate ways, and hopefully never see one another ever again."

Vasir for her part just rubbed her neck before silently nodding, and so the rest of the trip was conducted in utter silence.

S&S

The pair ended up at a building that overlooked a massive generator farm, at times it was possible to see massive bolts of electricity being discharged from overworked capacitors below in a spectacular show of power.

Tela herself had halted at the entrance, conversed quietly with a black armored individual who silently led the human to a windowed room inside. The room was empty save for a single table and a pair of chairs, while the windows looked out on the complex below, a small smile played on her lips as the blasts of energy reminded her of the tremendous lightning storms that would ravage the estate on Earth.

"Quite the sight, is it not?"

She spun towards the voice, adopting a combat stance as she did, only to find herself confronted with a hooded Salarian seated at the table. Her eyes darted around the room as she knew that he hadn't come in through the door, but there was no indicator of how he had slipped in.

She forced herself to relax as she replied, "It reminds me of Earth." She pulled out the chair opposite of him, "I assume that you are the Brokerage contact."

He gave a small nod of his head, "Indeed I am." Now that she was at his level she could see that he must be ancient for his species standards, his age causing him to appear almost skeletal, "Now, we have business to discuss."

He gave a small motion of his hands, which she recalled was the Salarian way of inviting the other party to speak first, "I need to die, and it needs to be made public before the Alliance can realize that I've duped them." She drummed her fingers on the desk, "I've already seen to a clone being quickly created, my," she tapped her arm, "Augments are not a widely disclosed fact, so there is no need to worry about that."

The alien nodded, "Simple enough so far, the Broker would be more than happy to do such a small feat as media manipulation for free. With the knowledge of course that you would be very grateful."

She gave him a tight smile, "There is nothing more expensive than a free gift."

That actually earned a raspy chuckle from the amphibian, "Too true, too true, but I do not believe that this is all you wish from the Brokerage. Am I correct?"

"I need a new identity, and it needs to be beyond scrutiny. Background checks, former friends, ex-lovers, it needs to be perfect."

A skeletal hand reached out and tapped a few commands on to the bracer on his other forearm, and his eyes almost seemed to glow for several moments. Finally, he gave a small nod, "This is not as small a favor, as I am sure you realize. In exchange for this, the Broker will need your particular skillset when it comes to digital intelligences."

Her lips tugged downwards into a frown, "The Broker wants an A.I?"

That earned another pained attempt at laughter from the alien, "No, not an A.I. But, the Broker does wish for the most advanced V.I that you can create. You can also be sure that if our experts discover a single backdoor, or other vulnerability, we will ensure that your new life is quickly, and totally compromised."

Her mind was already running the time it would take to pull this off, and she realized that she could never make this intelligence before the Alliance caught up with her, "I can do it, but I'll never be able to finish the project before the Alliance catches me, and this type of work isn't something you can do on the move."

The Salarian for his part just gave her, what he must think was, a good natured smile, "The Broker fully understands this, and we will handle our end of the bargain, on the understanding that you will deliver within one standard month. Is that acceptable?"

She mused over that, a V.I wasn't as difficult as an A.I. They were simply software that had to be uploaded into systems, and so she didn't have to worry about custom designing hardware to support them.

"Yes, I can deliver you your V.I by then."

The Salarian's face twisted into another ghoulish grin, "I had a feeling that you would not disappoint." He paused as though he was listening to someone talk that she couldn't hear, "All of your documentation will be held by Barla Von on the Citadel. He is a Volus banker of some repute." He held his hands up to belay the question she was about to ask, "We have arranged for a private dock, and appropriate documentation to get you to his place of business."

He stood up, extending a skeletal hand, "The brokerage appreciates you coming to us, and we hope to have many dealings with you in the future."

She reached out and clasped the alien's hand with her own artificial one, but she remained silent.

She wasn't going to be anyone's tool, and while this task would protect her in the short run, she needed to keep the long term in mind as well. Which meant that she would need to have some plan to neutralize the Broker's ability to expose her, but for now, they were united by mutual self-interest.

S&S

Sparatus ended the call with Nihlus, quickly tapping the comm on his desk, "Diria, contact the other Councillors, tell them that I need to speak with them immediately."

"Yes, Councillor."

He anxiously drummed his talon's on the desk, Tevos had seemingly gotten her wish and the human had agreed to come in. He still didn't know what her angle in pushing up Shepard's application was, but at the very least he knew that Valern was in the dark as much as he was, though that offered little comfort.

Finally, his comm chimed, but he just barked into it before Diria could speak, "Just send them in."

The door slid open, with Valern coming in first followed by Tevos, who practically glided into the room, the Asari inclined her head once she had stopped moving, "Sparatus, you have some news I take it?"

Valern who had just seated himself shot him a smug smile, "Likely to do with our prospective human candidate, if the call from Nihlus is an indicator."

Sparatus shot a warning glare to the Salarian, he was not going to be upstaged in his own office, "Nihlus informed me that she is on her way here, which leaves us to deal with the issue of her Father."

Valern just tilted his head, "What issue? She would not be considering this if she were aware. Why cause needless trouble for ourselves, by informing her? Leaving her in the dark the best solution to acquire her as an asset."

Sparatus growled in response, "And if she finds out afterwards? It's not like this is the same human who just happened to hack the Alliance's central servers on her way out the door!"

Valern opened his mouth but a slight movement of Tevos silenced him, "What Sparatus is saying, Valern, is that her loyalty will always be in question if we do not inform her of our predecessors actions. From all accounts Evalyn Shepard is a highly logical being, and unlikely to assign blame to those innocent of wrongdoing."

Sparatus begrudgingly tilted his head to the Asari, who smiled in response. Valern though was already on to the next problem, "Only question is how do we tell her then, perhaps giving her limited access to Spectre reports?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Preferably located inside a hardened bunker in case of adrenal system kicking in, aggravating that they share so much in common with Krogans."

Tevos shook her head at that, "I'll tell her, I'm still a reserve commando so I'm certain that I can handle a human with a temper."

Valern and Sparatus both shared a glance at that, but neither of them spoke against her decision. After all, if the worst came to pass her replacement would likely be far easier to manipulate.

With that out of the way the Salarian stood, "Well this was productive, sorry to see that your gift from the human Ambassador died, Sparatus."

The amphibian grinned as he walked away, knowing full well that Sparatus had gone to extreme lengths in his attempt to keep that cursed tiny tree alive, the Salarian let out a dry chuckle as the Turian attempted to defend his horticultural prowess, "It was defective!"

Tevos merely smiled at him, though her voice held the tiniest hint of gloating, "Mine is still alive." She turned around to confirm that the hatch had fully closed, separating them from Valern, "Did Nihlus mention why Shepard was delayed from departing Omega?"

Sparatus shook his head, his mandibles flaring in annoyance, "No, only mentioned that it was for medical reasons. Reasons which he refused to go into greater lengths to describe," he paused before taking a drink from the cup in front of him, scowling as he realized the drink had gone cold, "Spirits I regret approving his candidacy every time I speak with him."

Tevos laughed while giving a nod of agreement, "How do you think I feel when I have to deal with Lysia? She has her Mother's temperament."

That earned a chuckle from the Turian, "Do you mean she takes after Aria, or your Sister?"

S&S

Kenji let out an annoyed groan as the pair stepped off the transport, "I know that taking an Alliance transport would defeat the point of us travelling covert, but do these civilian models have to be so slow?"

Valerie just glanced up at him with a smirk on her face, "Says the person who slept most of the way."

He shrugged in response, "What? Even if we were boarded by pirates not like I can do much about it until they were on our ship." A snort came from the shorter human, causing a frown to tug at the man's features, "What? I passed my combat exam."

"By one point, and one of those shots was more fluke than skill."

A grumbled reply barely made it to Valerie, "I still passed."

Though before he could push the topic further they had reached a platform for the hover-train bound for the district that housed the Dantius Institute. Massia Dantius, the eldest and apparently most stable of Nara Dantius' daughters, had founded the clinic to ensure that the Asari children born on the planet would receive the proper levels of eezo exposure.

She had branched out from there, and it was a widely known fact that she and her sisters held little love for one another. Though she had been apparently avoided the infighting that had engulfed the family following her Mother's death, thanks to having been disowned years prior after she officially declared an Asari as her bond mate.

Though Kenji had no idea why Shepard would be here, they had simply been tasked with tracking her down and the Director never showed a card that he didn't have to.

The trip on the train was relatively short, though they didn't speak until they had left the train and once again entered into the relative anonymity that the crowds offered, "You get the feeling that we're somehow meant to fail this assignment? I mean, we're chasing the child of one of the most ruthless human admirals, and one of the top Alliance black-ops specialists."

Valerie just shook her head, "She might be good, she could even be amazing, but I can't see the Director wasting resources just for appearances. He'd just get you know who to make it look like he sent out a team."

"Fair point," and it was. The Director utilized Eliza more than any other higher-up in the Alliance, citing that since her activation there had not been an external breach of the Alliances databases, though internal breaches was an entirely different situation, as Shepard clearly demonstrated.

Damn Wondergirl, he had always thought she was a little off when they had met occasionally as kids.

"Ooh! There it is!" The building in question was rather inconspicuous for a Dantius building, as the three story structure still showed signs of its original prefab nature, though the original structure was now hidden underneath more appealing, and expensive, plating.

Stepping inside they found themselves in a rather empty lobby, though a pair of Asari children were playing in the corner as a matron watched over them. A maiden was manning the front desk, glancing up with a small measure of confusion at the pair, "Can I help you?"

Kenji stepped forward, pulling out the datapad he had shown Solus prior, "We're looking for this woman, her name is Evalyn Shepard, she's an Alliance special forces officer if that is of any help."

The maiden's face turned serious as she reached over and punched an icon on her terminal, "Mom, I think those people you mentioned are here."

A smooth voice replied from the terminal, 'I'll be right down.' Upon hearing that the maiden glanced up at the humans, "She'll be down to see you shortly. Please, have a seat."

Kenji was about to decline when he realized that Valerie had already taken off, dropping herself into one of a pair of luxurious chairs in the corner, letting out a sigh he gestured to where his partner was, "I guess we'll be over there."

The maiden rolled her eyes at that, and promptly returned to what she had been doing prior to the interruption. Kenji scowled as he made his way over to the small woman, "Can you take something serious for once."

"The building is surrounded on all sides by the local garrison, Commando's often end up staying on the world they are assigned and they don't want weak children, hence the clinic's location. The street in front of us is the only way to get to any of Nos Astra's spaceports, and this seat gives me a full view."

Kenji was dumbstruck for several moments before he palmed his face, "So if she's here and tries to bolt you will see her."

"Yep," then a gin broke across Valerie's face, "And it is pretty comfy too."

Kenji himself was about to give in and sit down when a voice caused him to turn around, "I'll assume that you are the humans Naral mentioned?"

Massia was rather short for her race, though unlike many Asari her age she was rather slim making her appear much younger. Though as he studied her he realized that her eyes gave away just how old she was, the cool blue orbs radiated both sorrow and wisdom. Finding his voice, he nodded, "Yes, I take it you can be of assistance."

She threw her head back and let out a deep laugh, "I don't know how much assistance I will be, but I can take you to her." She turned away, waving for the humans to follow her.

The pair exchanged a brief glance before following suit, and they were silently lead deeper into the facility until they came to a halt in front of a door that his translator informed him was labelled 'morgue.'

"I think there might be some mistake." The Asari in response just activated the door, gesturing for them to enter. He glanced down at Valerie who gave a small nod that they should go along with the wordless request, though he could tell that she was tensed and ready for a trap.

As soon as they entered the room he realized that one of the tables wasn't empty, and with a jerk of her head the Matriarch indicated for them to check the sheet. Valerie was the one who crossed the room, and with a small motion peeled the sheet back, her head twisting to look at Massia, "A clone I assume."

Massia just shrugged, "Does it matter? It will pass inspection at a glance, and that is all that most people are willing to give to such things." A chuckle came out of the alien, "I will admit I'm rather impressed, she's called in enough favors to ensure that you people won't be able to stop her. I rarely see such drive in one so young, it is refreshing."

She moved over to the body, pulling the sheet back over the exposed face, "But, you two have a choice to make, you can either leave now and inform your superiors of what is coming, or you can waste more time and let them be caught off guard when the news breaks. Such a tragedy for one so young to die from eezo exposure, especially right after the Alliance finally gave her permission to seek outside treatment."

As the gravity of her last statement hit the pair they quickly took off from the room. Leaving the Matriarch behind as she looked down at the covered body, this hadn't been a pleasant task but at least now she no longer owed Mordin any favors.

S&S

"How long does it take to figure out where one person is!" Harrison growled out as he paced the small room, the unnerving projection was laying on top of one of the large processors, her head tracking his movements, "Far longer than you apparently thought."

Before he could replay her head suddenly snapped up, "I think I've figured it out," and he watched as the projected skin seemed to pale, "No, no, no, no, no, NO!" The last sound was a petulant scream which was accompanied by a flurry of motion outside the room as the techs began to follow procedure and disconnect the extra hardware that had been linked to the system base system.

The admiral though just stormed up to the projection, "What is it! Do you know where Eva is!?"

Angry green eyes blazed up at him, "She's already finished her plan if the data you've given me is correct, you waited too long, old man! Now neither of us get what we want." As if summoned by her words Halim came sprinting down the corridor, a datapad in his hand which was pushed into Harrison's grip as soon as the younger man had closed the distance, "Admiral, this just came in from Arcturus."

His eyes flicked over the page as he read both the latest ANN headline, and the CASE agents report that had arrived soon after, both of them held the same news; his Granddaughter was, at least in the public's eye, dead.

An angry growl emerged from his throat as he threw the pad across the room, "Unhook the additional hardware and get it back to its baseline. If it acts up again, fry it."

Halim nodded as he followed after the Admiral, "Sir?"

Harrison turned to regard the man, "Was there something else, Commander?"

The man hesitated briefly before nodding, "There was another message for you, apparently there was a series of packages sent to several Alliance officials including yourself." At the impatient wave of the older man's hand he continued, "The box was empty except for, well some strings. I assume that it means something to you?"

Harrison grimaced as the message came through loud and clear, "Yes, it does. Thank you, Commander. I think its time I return home, I've taken up enough of your people's time."

As he walked away he couldn't help but shake his head, Evalyn always had a need to showcase just how smart she was but this was a bit much, and it perhaps showed just how warped her impression of him had become.

"You we're never just a puppet, girl."

S&S

Eva navigated her way through the Presidium with minimal fuss, though she had stopped to admire some of the statuary on the way. The Krogan one was particularly interesting to her, though she wondered if it would eventually be the only proof one day that the species had ever existed.

She eventually came across Barla Von's place of business, though she halted at the entrance when she saw that the hatch was wide open. After hesitating for a few moments she rapped knuckles on the door's frame, causing the business' proprietor to glance up, "Ah, Miss. Danvers, come in." As she walked in he tapped a control which shut the door, "My last client was complaining that it was stuffy in here, and I simply forgot that the door was even still open."

Before he began to rummage in his desk he drew her attention to one of the wall mounted screens, "A few hours earlier and you might have beaten the news, normally when I meet someone who is," he moved his stubby digits in an approximation of air-quotes, "'Dead.' They are doing so for tax reasons, and they generally aren't interested in paying taxes elsewhere, so this was a first."

She glanced at the screen as every channel competed over covering the shitstorm that was her life, though it failed to distract her from a single thought that had been bouncing around her head since she left Illium.

The fact that Eva Shepard had died on Akuze.

Of course she didn't mean dead in a physical sense, but there was no denying something had snapped, or at the very least shifted, inside of her. Even if she had come out of that hellscape fully intact, she honestly doubted that she would have been done any better holding herself together.

Further delving into that subject was halted as the Volus made a triumphant noise, as he dropped on the desk a thin box that had been hidden inside of the top one of the desk's cavernous drawers, "Identification chip, and digitally encoded passport."

He held up a datapad to his face, "You were born on Earth in one of the North American megacities, an orphan who bounced around the system for most of your younger years. Record is clean aside for once where you were arrested for red sand use when you were a minor. Following that incident you were given an aptitude test, and having scored high enough went through post-secondary schooling using government performance grants. Since then you have made yourself a tidy sum as an encryption specialist."

He turned the datapad around, which on its display showed a box stuffed with documents, "This will be left in a secured lockup near your hanger, all the personal effects, touches, and ex-lovers you may need to convince anyone of your authenticity."

Taking a step back the Volus seemed to be internally debating something, until finally he began to speak again, "What did you think of the building?"

Eva couldn't help but tilt her head at that, "Building?"

"On Illium, I ask because I own it, and I know that you've been looking into Illium finance laws." She bristled at the fact the Broker had been keeping that close of tabs on her, but at the Volus' raised hands she held back her anger filled retort, "This offer isn't from the Brokerage. I help you get started, as well as assist you in navigating Illium's financial waters, perhaps even introduce you to a few skilled people, and in return I get 5% off the top."

She frowned at that, the Volus' help could let her be fully independent of the Council, but his connection to the Brokerage was troublesome. Though, it did have some advantages as well, if she did become a Spectre, particularly if she was an anti-brokerage Spectre, it would likely deter some suspicion from her alias.

Still, 5% was not cheap.

"I'll think about it, I'm sure you can understand that this is a decision that I would like some time to consider."

The Volus simply gave a small nod of his rotund head, as he extended a hand, "Of course, and let me be the first to greet you, Helen Danvers."

She let out a slightly cruel grin as she swung her hair to cover her natural eye, "Please Von, we might be business partners soon, you can call me Hel."

The Volus though wasn't phased by her cybernetics, something which she noted to look into later, and so she reached out and shook the offered hand, "A pleasure to meet you then, Hel."

She slipped the contents of the box into the bag that was on her left shoulder, and entered back into the always perfect weather of the Citadel's most prestigious area. Her eyes shifting upwards to the Citadel tower as a predatory grin lit up her face.

It was time to meet her prospective employers.

S&S

Credit Song: It's My Life performed by Cliver

Shepard picked Helen just so she could make her nickname Hel, Eva doesn't like history but she's a big fan of myths. And yes, that was both a Pinnochio, and an Age of Ultron reference, Hannah, and thus Eva, are huge comic book nerds.

That bit about Mordin's name was simply me trying to directly address a very odd situation, as the last name is the Salarian's given name, while the second last name is the clan name. So, I'm just saying that Mordin swapped his name after getting tired of correcting people, while his name originally would have gone, Solus Mordin.

Some of you know this, but that Tela scene drove me up the freaking wall as I was writing it. So I hope that you all liked it.

Thanks to all those who have left reviews, and also to those who have clicked the buttons down below.


	6. Hello, Darkness

AN: Sorry for the delay, but here we are.

Also is anyone else having trouble uploading files? I had to copy and paste this document into 's integrated word processor as I couldn't upload my actual file like normal, so if you spot any wonky formatting let me know as it probably just converted poorly.

Song Themes:

Miranda Lawson: Jet Black Dress by Miracle of Sound

Hannah Shepard: Unbroken by Beyond The Black

S&S

 _All officers are reminded that the augmentations being offered to us by Beacon Tech are not mandatory for all positions._

 _That being said all ARU (Augment Response Unit) personnel are to report to a beacon clinic for a consultation by no later than the 25_ _th_ _of May, 2, 2062. If their physicians deem you to be unqualified for the augmentation process, then you will be shifted into another department. As the increasingly dangerous nature of these individuals, coupled with the governments unwillingness to enforce legislation on the augmentation process, puts too much risk on an un-augmented individual._

 _If you have any complaints, please contact HR._

 _-Internal memo circulated through the Detroit Police Department._

S&S

Eva glanced around the lift idly, a pair of Salarians in the corner were talking about strategies for an upcoming trade summit, while a plain clothes Turian C-Sec officer was trying, and failing, to look casual.

The human for her part just let out an annoyed sigh, she understood having to be accommodating to other species visiting the Citadel, but setting the lifts to always run at the slowest setting just because the Elcor didn't handle quick changes in elevation well was a bit much in her opinion.

Finally, the lift reached the highest floor the general public could reach. As she exited the lift she immediately felt the whole room's attention on her, which consisted of three Turian C-Sec officers, two of them flanking her to either side, while another was opposite of her behind the desk facing the lift's doors.

The one behind the desk had white facial markings, and he quickly extended his hand, droning out in a bored voice, "Documentation please."

Fishing into her bag she pulled out the Illium issued passport, realizing that if the Broker had for whatever reason double crossed her she would know very soon, the Turian took it with little fanfare. Running the object through a scanner which gave a single beep before he handed it back to the human.

His avian eyes scanned the terminal in front of him, "Encryption specialist, spirits it seems like you lot keep multiplying."

A chuckle came from one of the elevator guards, "Not like it is doing any good, wasn't there just a data breach this morning?" He turned his inquisitive gaze to the human, "You must be desperate for work if they just called you in for that breach."

The human simply gave a shake of her head, "I was hired a few days ago, the shuttle I took from Illium just landed a few hours ago. So this is all new information to me."

Of course, it actually wasn't.

She had hacked into the Citadel Tower's systems and inserted her new identity into the system hours ago. Then she had gone on a quick trip to purchase some new clothes and get a decently priced room, she had needed a shower rather badly.

The Turian pulled out a small badge, "This will give you access to all the tower sections of level four clearance and down, if you wander outside of those areas you can, and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Citadel law."

She plucked the badge from the taloned hand, "Thanks for the warm welcome, I don't suppose you can point direct me to where I'm supposed to setup?"

The Turian groaned but held up his omni tool, tapping in a few commands before her tool beeped in response, "You'll need to take the lift up another two floors, if you somehow can't find your workstation just ask any of the aides." His omni blinked off, as the Turian grumbled to himself, "Not like they do anything of actual importance up there."

She nodded and made her way back to the lift, though as soon as the door closed she was hacking into his omni-tool, via the virus she had planted when he had uploaded her the coordinates. C-Sec personnel should know better than to directly interface with an unknown person's system.

She wasn't going to complain, it simply made her hacking of the lift all the easier. As with a simple command she granted herself access to the Councillor's personal level, just one floor below the chamber where they held court.

She stepped off the lift, only to find herself trapped in a pair of powerful blue arms the second she did so, "You aren't cleared for this level, human. Don't struggle and we can simply send you on your way, after you answer a few simple questions, well not answer but that's beside the point."

A smirk pulled at her lips as the Asari suddenly let out a pained breath, her attempt to forcibly meld their nervous systems not only failing, but delivering a nasty bit of biofeedback directly into the Asari's nervous system.

The blonde lashed out, driving a metal elbow deep into her opponent's gut, before she brought that same down violently smashing the stunned Commando to the ground.

She pulled off her glove, and proceeded to roll back the sleeve of her right arm, no need to damage her clothes after all. That task complete a single thought caused current to begin arcing around her fingertips, which she brought into contact with the exposed flesh of the Asari who jerked involuntarily under her less then tender treatment.

Satisfied that the commando was taken care of she began to make her way further down the hall, rolling her sleeve back down as she did so. Her glove had just slipped into place when another figure appeared at the end of the hallway, neither moved for several moments before Eva dipped her head into a slight bow, bringing her cybernetic arm to rest on her other forearm, "Councillor Tevos."

The Asari said nothing for a few moments, before letting out a sigh, "I do hope that you did no permanent damage to, Syla."

"I doubt it, but there is always the chance for physiological damage I suppose." The Asari's face flickered with annoyance, "Yes, well I would hate to tell her Mother that she was maimed by our newest Spectre. That is what this visit is about, am I correct?'

The brunette gave a slight incline of her head, and she could see a momentary flicker of what appeared to be relief from the Councillor. The alien stepped back, gesturing with one hand, "My office is just down this hall, shall we move this discussion out of the hall?"

The human didn't respond, simply marched past the Asari, heels clicking as she did so.

She settled herself into one of the chairs in Tevos' office, while the Asari herself was pouring a drink at the bar in the corner. A frown tugged at Eva's lips, the Councillor's nervousness had only increased once they entered the office, which logically meant that she was about to say something that she believed would upset the human.

"Whatever it is, just say it."

Tevos fumbled, nearly dropping her glass to the floor. Her eyes fell to the glass in her trembling hand and with a swift motion downed the contents, "The datapad in front of you, it has something on it that you should know before we discuss you joining the Spectres further."

Curiosity thrummed in her breast as she picked up the datapad, a feeling that swiftly died as her eyes quickly took in the information before her.

She could hardly think as her pulse pounded in her ears, as before her was the proof in black and white. Dates, invoices, inventory lists, even the minutes of the meeting that had resulted in the action, all of it before her spelling out a singular fact she had long known to be true.

Saren had killed her Father, and the Council had ordered him to do it.

A snarl ripped from her throat as she threw herself to her feet, datapad tumbling to the floor. Tevos for her part was standing her ground a telltale biotic shimmer protecting her body, but the human ignored her as she prowled around the room like an angry wolf.

A shout that was more akin to a growl emerged from the human's throat as she slammed her fist into the reinforced window, cracks like a spider web forming as she slammed her fist into the same spot again and again.

Finally, her head snapped to the Asari, her voice was even and controlled, though her eyes revealed how not in control she actually was, "Why?"

Tevos had seemed to find her nerve, as she held the human's gaze, "The Council felt that you would one day stumble across this information, either by someone attempting to turn you against us or by your own actions." She took a pause to steady herself further, "As such we decided that the safest course was to be honest with you, and if you did join, to know that this matter was safely behind us."

She could tell that Asari was being at least partially truthful, and even with the red haze that had descended on her thoughts she knew that what the Councillor was saying was logical. Even more important, it was entirely self-motivated. This move wasn't intended to give her closure; it was literally just the Council covering their collective asses from a potentially self-destructive situation.

She slowly made her way back to the seat she had previously occupied, and dropped into it before bending over to pick up the discarded datapad.

Tevos returned to the bar as the human obsessively poured over the information in front of her, and making two drinks this time set one on a table on the human's left. Eva's hand snaked out and grabbed the glass, the contents quickly vanishing down her throat as her face twisted into a grimace, "God, how the hell do you drink this sugary crap?"

Tevos for her part just sniffed as though affronted, "That 'crap' cost as much as a skycar I'll have you know."

The human's eyes only flicked briefly up to acknowledge the Asari, "Price and quality are not the same thing, Councillor." Her eyes moved downward once more as they continued pouring over the data, her face contorting with confusion as she stumbled upon a piece of data that seemed out of place, "Saren tried to decline the mission, why?"

Tevos simply let out a graceful shrug, "I only know that he said it was for personal reasons."

Her eyes continued scanning, "Wait, the mission was a failure?"

"Indeed, one of his few." The Asari traced her fingers along the edge of her glass, "The original plan was for the entirety of the Admiralty to be killed, which presumably would eliminate most of the more vocal anti-Council voices in the Alliance."

Her eyes shifted up to lock with Eva's, "Saren broke orders to ensure that you survived, you might want to ask him about it sometime." The Councillor set her glass down on the table in front of her, "Shall we discuss why exactly you are here, Shepard? Or is that name not accurate anymore?"

The human gave her an almost sinister smile, "I see that you watch the news up here in your ivory tower." Tevos inclined her head lightly, "An interesting move, halting both the Alliance's attempts to track you down, at least officially. While at the same time ensuring that we don't want you as simply a propaganda piece."

"Well, one can't be too careful these days." Eva set the pad down on the table next to her glass, "I expect autonomy. I've been a dog before, and I didn't leave the Alliance just to have you slap a collar around my neck."

The Councillor tilted her head slightly, "So you would be what, a part time Spectre? This might surprise you to find out but we don't just hand out legal immunity to anyone."

The human gave a disingenuous smile at that, "No, I'd be a Spectre." She leaned back slightly in the chair letting her back sink into the cushioning, "This might surprise you but I've always been a supporter of the Council, or at least the ideal of it." She let out a sigh, "Of course, most things look better on paper, laws, government, organization with limited oversight." The last line was delivered with a smirk from the former N7.

Before the Councillor could reply the human stood up, causing Tevos to unconsciously lean away from the room's other occupant, but Eva simply moved over to the window she had assaulted in her rage. A gloved hand traced over the cracks as she began to speak again, "What I'm proposing is my skills being at your disposal, but other than when I am on a mission I will be an independent operative. I won't be tied to any single species, I will give no one special consideration, I will reserve the right to decline a mission that I disagree with," she let a small smirk pull at her features, "Though I don't see that being all that likely."

Her hand clenched into a loose fist as she lightly tapped it against the fractured surface, "I also won't do anything to compromise or harm the Alliance."

That caused Tevos to glance at her curiously, "Still loyal to the organization that was set on turning you into a legal slave?"

"I'm a Shepard," she frowned and corrected herself, "Well like you said earlier, I was a Shepard." The human twisted her head to glance back at the seated Asari, "Those are my terms, I assume that you will need to take it to the other Councillors."

Tevos smoothly rose to her feet, "Yes, but you must understand that regardless of the outcome, you will have an evaluation period first. While you will technically have the outward authority of a Spectre, you will not have unlimited access to either the Spectre offices, or the Spectre database."

The human nodded as she made her way to the room's exit, "That's acceptable, I'll show myself out if that is alright."

Tevos began to ask how they were to get in contact with the human, when she realized her omni was blinking that a new contact had been added.

For the human to be able to hack into her omni without setting off any alarms was troublesome, but even more so was the fact that she had done so simply to prove a point. The human was smart enough to know that knowledge was power, and more than ruthless enough to know how to use that power to her advantage.

Not for the first time Tevos cursed herself for fast tracking the human's application at the behest of that old witch back on Thessia, especially after she had called off the initial elimination when Shepard had been fifteen, only to now seemingly reverse her position.

Tevos could only hope that the human wasn't what the crone thought she was; Tevos hated seeing a potentially useful resource wasted.

S&S

Sparatus and Valern were waiting for her in one of the smaller meeting rooms inside the tower, neither spoke until she was seated, and unsurprisingly it was the Salarian who spoke first.

"Given that you're in one piece, I'll assume that she agreed." Tevos let out a sigh as she tried to make herself comfier in the chair, "That, is a complicated matter."

Sparatus for his part said nothing, giving a slight nod for Valern to continue with the questioning, "What is complicated about the matter, Tevos? She's either a Spectre, or she's not."

Tevos' fingers danced on the edge of the table as she went over her meeting with the human, "She is, open to the idea of being a Spectre. However, sh-" Valern began to interject but was silenced by a glare from his two compatriots, after granting a slight nod to the Turian the Asari continued, "As I was saying, she wants certain guarantees as to her independence."

Sparatus sighed, "What kind of independence? And what kind of guarantees?"

"She will be available for our use, if she feels her skills are being used appropriately. Otherwise she has stated an interest in pursuing her own agenda, as well as her unwillingness to be bound to anyone's will other than her own."

"Unacceptable." Valern shook his head emphatically, "if one Spectre has the right to refuse, then others will follow suit."

Sparatus just shook his head, "She's not demanding the right to refuse, the human is demanding we not waste her time, she said it herself that she is unlikely to decline a mission. The fact of the matter is since Gurji died we are in desperate need of a person with her technological qualifications. We need her to break Eclipse's hold on Anhur, and that isn't optional, Valern." He sighed and took a drink from the glass in front of him, "It's not so different from our reserve Spectres if you think about it, and I don't see you up in arms claiming that they should all be reactivated."

Valern shot him a withering glare, "She's already lost all potential use as a check on the Alliance, granting her more freedom can only cause more trouble to come."

Tevos placed her palms on the table, "Why don't we vote on the matter." At that the Salarian gave out a huff, "No need, I'll go congratulate your human."

At Tevos' confused look Sparatus just shook his head, "He's had his STG contacts hunting for a method to get in contact with her, he must need her for something."

The other councillor frowned, "It must be something important if he was willing to put on that much of a show, should we task someone to shadow her?"

"Or he may simply dislike her, Valern has never let personal feelings cloud his judgement, but he does have them all the same." Sparatus tapped a talon against one of his mandibles, "Plus, it generally isn't wise to put a tail on a Spectre operating for the Salarians, they tend to take offense; the STG gets involved, rather messy."

Tevos tilted her head at that, "Speaking from experience, Councillor?"

The Turian simply gave a small chuckle, "Ask your predecessor sometime, I suspect she rather enjoyed watching me blunder about."

"Matriarch Trellani and I are not on speaking terms. She's still rather miffed about being, 'forced,' out of her position here."

Sparatus gave a small nod at that, "A pity, I still call upon Varus from time to time." Pushing from his seat he stretched him limbs lightly, "If there is no other pressing business, there is work to be done."

Inclining her head with a light smile the Asari too rose, "Have a pleasant day, Sparatus."

S&S

'Sir, Hannah's here to see you.'

The message from Miss. Chambers came somewhat late as the blonde in question had just stormed through the now open door, Jack merely let out a sigh, "Thank you, Kelly, I can see that."

Spinning slowly in his chair until he faced Hannah the man took a drag of his cigarette, "What can I do for you, Eva?"

The woman in question tossed the datapad in her hand toward the seated individual, "You're confining me to the station, Jack?"

Extinguishing the item in his hand the Illusive Man gave a slight nod, "Eva, recent, shall we say events, have showcased that if you are forced to make a choice between Cerberus, and, certain outside influences, that you routinely make the wrong choice." The man reached down and lifted up his empty glass, "Widow, would you kindly fill this for me."

Materializing from the shadows of the room, the slim woman in question made her way across the room, "Of course, Master." Her left hand snaked out to grab the glass while her right sat on the handle of her pistol on her bodysuit encased hip.

As glass clinked in the background the blonde visibly seethed, "Did you honestly think I would just let you kill her, Jack?"

The man just fixed his gaze on her, "I expected you to do what was best for humanity. I seem to recall that you understood what this organization stood for once, but now, I'm not so sure."

"You can't throw away your humanity and still defend it, Jack!"

Silence hung in the air until Widow placed the glass down on the chair's arm, "Thank you, Widow."

The woman simply gave a small bow as she slipped back into the corner of the room, no doubt waiting for Hannah to make a move on the seated man. Jack for his part just tilted the glass back as he took a measured drink, "Eva, there is nothing that I won't do to protect our species, and there is no sacrifice I won't make either."

"Easy to say when you have nothing to sacrifice."

The man didn't respond to that right away, until finally a sigh left his lips, "Perhaps you have a point there." He stood up, slowly making his way across the room until he was almost touching the glass, "Sometimes it seems like Shanxi was just yesterday, humanity was still struggling to figure out its place, and the Council was doing everything they could to put us in our place."

The blonde slowly padded up to him, "A lot has changed since then."

"Has it?" Hannah shot the man a brief look before he continued, "Humanity's position is still unsure, our colonies are threatened daily, the Council routinely attempts to use whatever means they can to weaken us. In fact, the only real change is now your child is their newest lever."

Her fists tightened at Jack's words, "We both know that Eva isn't about to let herself be used as a tool against her own species." An exasperated sigh emerged from her mouth, "Jesus, Jack, did you actually think I was going to let you kill her? Because I swear to God I will end you if anything happens to her."

"I somehow doubt that Miranda would appreciate that last comment, or Oriana."

Hannah's jaw clenched at the implication, "You, son of a bitch, leave them out of this." The uncaring cybernetics just kept staring straight ahead, "There is no need for them to be brought into this, if you can prove to me that you can follow orders." He reached down into a jacket pocket and withdrew a cigarette along with a match, a flare lighting up the room as he lit the object he then brought to his lips, "In return I promise you that I won't harm either of your daughters, assuming that your blood daughter can manage to stay away from Cerberus' interests."

Hannah scowled but gave a nod, realizing that this was the best she could expect from the man, and began to make her way out of the room, "Eva, make sure to grab that datapad on your way out. It should have your updated orders on it."

The blonde grabbed the pad with a growl before she stomped out, The Illusive Man's eyes swept to the dark corner where he knew Widow was still watching from, "I have Kelly monitoring both Eva and Miranda, losing either of them would be a significant loss, but not one we can't recover from. If she gives you the order you are to eliminate them, understood?"

While the woman didn't appear, her voice floated out from the shadows, "Yes, Master."

S&S

Eva frowned as she compared the two items in front of her, while the Destiny Ascension kit was large it also wasn't anything special, on the other hand the Shadow's Grip was not only a limited run kit; it was also based on the first Spectre vessel.

Which seemed rather fitting all things considered.

Reaching forward she grabbed the smaller, though more expensive, kit, bringing it up to the counter where a human sat watching her. Honestly she was glad to have found this store, she never liked ordering things from a kiosk, especially with how rough some delivery services could be.

The man took the item from her as he scanned it into his terminal, "Good pick, only have two of these babies left." She gave a small nod of her head, "I was tempted by the Ascension, but you can get that kit anywhere."

The man let out a laugh, "You have no idea, the only other kit I have more of is the latest line of Turian frigates. At least the Batarian one's go quickly, everyone loves something to have their stuff shoot at." He put her purchase inside a small bag, and handed it to her, "Have a nice day, and we deliver if you ever are off the station."

She gave a small nod, "I'll keep that in mind, thanks."

The human was about halfway back to her ship when an unknown contact popped up on her display, a frown tugged at her lips as she debated to answer the incoming hail or not.

Curiosity won over caution though, and with a thought the channel opened. There was no sound on the other end for several moments before finally a voice, obviously Salarian, began to speak, "Shepard, this is Councillor Valern. First of all, congratulations on becoming a provisional Spectre, your credentials will be delivered to your ship shortly."

'Voice patterns match those in the Citadel archives to 99.98% accuracy, Ma'am.'

He feet kept her moving down the hall, even as she continued to speak, "And the second point of business."

"Is a mission, one which will require some degree of discretion on your part. The particulars are not to be disclosed to the other Councillors, you understand." The human bit lightly on the inside of her lip as she debated what was being offered, was this some sort of loyalty test, or was the Salarian just out of other options?

Deciding to test the waters further she pushed, "Forgive my paranoia, but it seems somewhat suspicious for you to be trusting a Spectre of roughly," she consulted the time, "Two minutes, with a mission that sounds like it could have rather large ramifications."

She could almost picture the Salarian nodding, they tended to appreciate someone who acknowledged the angles, and she had been increasingly gaining respect for how little they relied on emotion in their decision making process, "To be perfectly honest, Shepard, if I had another option I would use it. Bau is unfortunately no longer in his prime, and others that I would rely upon are not available."

"And I am unaffiliated, and so your best bet at keeping this under wraps."

A not insignificant pause occurred next, until finally, the Councillor's voice returned, "Yes, you seem to have a grasp of the situation. With that having been said, do you accept the mission?"

The brunette kept moving as she swiftly considered the choice before her, it would be useful to have some leverage on one of her 'superiors' this early in the game. On the other hand, she could find herself forced into an alliance with the Salarian Councillor that she had no intention of being in.

She had been raised to believe that inaction rarely was equal to its opposite, and so her decision was easily made, "I accept the mission."

"I'm glad to hear you made the correct choice, I'll give you the details once you have your Spectre credentials. It was Kyrik's job to deliver them to you, so I would expect him to meet you at your hanger."

S&S

Cora fished the keycard out of her bag, wincing a little as the scared tissue on her right arm objected to the sudden movement. She could get the tissue replaced easily enough, but she had refused several times now. It was a reminder of one of her greatest failures, and she had no intention of letting herself forget the lessons she had learned.

Finding the card, she stepped toward her unit's door, frowning at her reflection. Her red hair was pulled back into a serious bun, but she hadn't noticed a few strands had escaped. An annoyed huff escaped her thin lips as she waved the card over the reading.

Cora slipped into the suspiciously quiet condominium, her voice quietly calling out into the dim lighting, "Mathew?" When no response came a frown pulled at her features as she slipped the small holdout pistol from her bag. Her feet slowly making their way into the main living space when she spotted her partner slowly moving around the room with his daughter held safely in his arms.

His brown eyes lit up when he spotted her, though he mouthed, 'Are you serious?' When he spotted the weapon in his hands.

She just shrugged as she slipped it away and began to make her way over to them, her voice barely a whisper when she spoke, "Is it the medications again? I still don't think that Doctor knows what she's talking about."

He sighed and gave a small nod, "We've been over this Cora, there is a greater risk to her if the nodes she has aren't activated, then the discomfort the medication brings. I'd prefer her to not end up in the same position as Wondergirl." The redhead frowned at the mention of Evalyn, but as the girl in his arms made a light whimper of pain she banished all other thoughts and reached out a hand to run through the girl's black hair, "It doesn't mean I have to like it Mathew." She let out a small sigh, "I'm going to take the day off tomorrow, so that I can stay home and look after Madison."

Mathew began to voice his disagreement but was quickly stopped as emerald eyes glared at him, "You need to go to work. Unlike you I can work from home, and people are starting to notice." She extended her arms, and the pair transferred the small girl between them, "You've already been noted as being the most absentee representative in Parliament this session, your Mother even brought it up in question period today."

He winced at that, Rebecca Dorlan had been livid when her son had entered politics only to side with the existing coalition government, rather than her own Parity party. The steel haired matriarch had tried to sink his run for one of the Arcturus seats, but he had won out in the end.

It didn't change the fact that Christmas was an amazingly awkward affair.

The girl in her arms began to stir, dark brown eyes peered upwards as a small questioning voice lifted itself to her ears, "Mom?" Cora couldn't help the smile that formed at those words, the girl wasn't her biological daughter, but she still cared for her like she was, "Hello, my darling."

The girl let out yet another whimper of pain which caused the redhead to subconsciously tighten her hold on the girl, "I'm sorry that it hurts, darling. Only five more nodes to go, and then no more medicine."

"Then I get space magic?" Cora's lips quirked into a frown as she shot a glare at Mathew, who glanced nervously away from her gaze. With a slight huff the redhead made her way into the girl's room, before laying down in the girls' bed, the five-year-old still in her arms, "Try and sleep, darling, I'll stay with you until you do."

She wasn't sure how long it took for the girl to slowly nod off, but she finally did as she settled into the blankets away from her Mother. Allowing the redhead to slip out of the room, though she did leave the door open behind her in case she woke up.

Mathew had shifted into the unit's kitchen since then, glancing up as she entered into the space, "How was work?"

"Fine." Opening up a cabinet she pulled out a glass that she quickly filled with water, "We agreed not to trivialize her biotics, she needs to understand from the beginning how serious this is."

Shifting from his position at the stove the man slipped the item in the pan, which she could now see was a grilled cheese sandwich, on to the nearby plate, "She's just a kid, Cora."

"You don't think I know that!" They both grimaced at her raised tone before she took a deep breath, continuing in a calmer fashion, "I know she's just a kid, but we won't be able to just wave it off if she puts another kid through a wall."

Mathew sighed, "That is a bit of a leap don't you think?"

Leaning heavily against the fridge she let her head thump against the shiny metal surface, "I just don't want her to grow up with other kids being afraid of her," her left hand curled around the burned tissue on her right arm, "I've seen the result of that."

Her partner shook his head, "Eva had a lot of problems, and trust me when I say that Madison is not going to turn out like her." The man turned around to grab another bite of his sandwich, muttering under his breath, "And I wasn't scared of her."

The comment earned a small chuckle from the redhead, "I seem to recall hearing a story about how she kicked your ass when she was eleven, and Eva wasn't prone to exaggeration."

She smirked at the annoyance on his face, but instead of addressing the question the man instead swapped topics, "So? What was it that my Mother was railing against today?"

An annoyed groan emerged from Cora's lips, "She's claiming that the Alliance doesn't care enough about their soldiers, citing that Evalyn Shepard died seeking treatment outside of Alliance space." She could see from the grimace on Mathew's face that he could see how the debate had gone, "Fuck, Eva knew just the perfect way to give Mother the ammunition she needed so that she could keep us occupied trying to save face."

Cora just gave a small shrug at that, the blonde and her had been very close until their graduation. After the, incident, things had never been the same, and neither woman had been willing, or perhaps able, to be the one take the plunge and try to repair the rift.

Mathew slipped past her as he put his plate into the dishwasher, "I'm going to head in to work, Shastri knows why I haven't been in, but I'm going to have to make a public statement." He turned to her as if he was going to ask something but seemed to decide against it, before finally asking, "Will you fine here with Madison? You've been at work all day, so if you want I could call my Sister."

She put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll be fine, but I'll call Sarah if I think it is necessary."

He gave a nod at that, before leaning in and giving her a small peck on the lips, "Love you," she gave him a small smile in return, "I love you, too."

S&S

"About time you showed up, I was starting to get bored."

Mismatched eyes shifted to land on the Turian leaned against her ship, "Nihlus."

The dark plated alien shook his head, "Spirits, you know when I said you and Saren were alike I was just joking." At the human's tilted head, he let out a sigh, "Just your whole tone there, it was the same one Saren uses whenever we speak. Somewhat annoyed, but you both know that I'm here for a reason so you put up with me."

At that statement he picked up the small case sitting on the ground next to him, "I brought you your credentials."

Making her way past him she popped open one of the compartments on the ship, setting her latest purchase on the edge of the recently opened space. The Turian's curious voice sounded behind her, "Is that a model?"

Eva rolled her eyes as she pushed the item further inside, "Yes, Nihlus, it is. I started building them as part of my rehab after I lost my arm, after so long I realized it was a relaxing hobby."

She turned and took the item in the alien's hands, "Now if there are no other pointless questions," Her fingers flipped at the case's seals, and she began to examine the items inside the container.

Nihlus' voice came from her side as he moved to lean against the side of the ship, "Every Spectre has to have some form of identification on their person at all times. The smaller badge inside is generally used for when operating as a civilian, most of us have it made into an inconspicuous item so that in a pinch we can prove out identity." As she lifted a metallic symbol into her hand Nihlus tapped his own shoulder which had the same marking, "Identifier for your armour, it's made of some type of super-metal the Salarian's cooked up, bonds to most modern plating. It has the same identifier built in as your badge." The Turian gave out a chuckle, "Plus, how many idiots will question a heavily armed person wearing a Spectre symbol."

The human hummed in agreement as she slipped out of her jacket, before shooting a smirk at the alien, "I assume that it does happen on occasion." Satisfied that there was nothing else in the case her hands began to unbutton her blouse, the Turian pointedly looking elsewhere until she had fully pulled on her bodysuit.

Her crimson orb glanced at him, "Why are you still here?"

The Turian gave a light shrug, "No reason really, thought you could use a friend."

That earned a scoff from the former blonde, "I don't have friends. Not anymore." Nihlus let out a sigh, "Look, Lady," he smirked at the flash of annoyance on her features, "You agreed to join the Spectres," at her even bigger reaction he quickly backtracked, "You're being contracted as a Spectre."

She gave a small nod at his change, and so he continued, "Putting your employment situation aside, we both know that you aren't a team player, and that's fine." His mandibles flicked as he saw her pull out the missile launcher from the cargo compartment, "Is that really necessary?"

The human grinned at his reaction as she attacked it to her back, "It could be." She rolled her neck before slipping her helmet on, her distorted voice emerging from the suit, "You were saying something about teamwork I believe."

The Turian gave a small nod, "Right, my point was that you need people who are going to watch your back. A lot of political bullshit goes on behind the scenes, and given that you are one of the few unaligned Spectres," as she turned her head the Turian just glowered at her, which caused her to get back to prepping her gear, "Let's just say you should watch yourself."

The human seemed to pause at that, "There are other unaligned Spectres? Tevos seemed to imply that my situation was," she blanked on the word she wanted for a moment, but it suddenly flashed into her mind, "Unique."

The Turian let out a groan, "Of course you focus on the wrong part of my warning," Nihlus paused momentarily before he seemed to decide on his course of action, "Mostly they are individuals who were, for various reasons, not put forward by their own species, or have disassociated themselves from their sponsored race. The Broker of course has some known, and unknown, Spectres in his pocket, but it's a necessary evil." He let out a groan as he rotated one of his arms, "Tevos wasn't lying, as far as I'm aware there isn't a single Spectre who didn't at least start off with a patron of some form."

The human closed the hatch in front of her with a solid push, and began to make her way out of the bay, "I'll keep what you said in mind, Nihlus, but for now I don't plan on letting you follow me." Before the Turian realized what had happened the hanger door slammed shut, an angry red symbol blinking at him. Letting out an annoyed huff he pulled up his omni, "Bau, this is Nihlus. Lady just locked me in her hanger, could you unlock it for me?"

"Apologies, Nihlus, but I am just swamped with work here in the tower right now. I'll get someone down to your location as soon as possible." As he registered Salarian's response his mandibles flared in annoyance, "What do you mean you're stuck in the tower, just send one of the tech's down here!"

As this omni informed him that the connection had been dropped Nihlus let out a groan, Saren was not going to be happy that Eva had, literally, slammed a door in his face.

S&S

The armoured human let the skycar's V.I handle the actual piloting while she reviewed the data she had been sent. Apparently one of their operatives on Sur'Kesh had become exposed to some form of advanced alien tech, he had then gone on to murder thirteen other staff members before escaping in a high speed shuttle.

The shuttle's transponder had been disabled, but one of the STG's contacts on the Citadel had spotted the vessel a few days ago, though there was no telling how long he had been on the station for. Since then there had been no sight of him, until a few hours before she arrived and he had raided some medical research firm, killing another eight civilians in the process.

Her display pinged with an incoming hail, and as she saw the source of the communication was from the Tower she accepted it, "Lady, here."

 _"_ _Jondum Bau, pleasure to speak with our newest recruit."_ She frowned as she thought back to what she knew about the Salarian.

He was at the end of his Spectre career, or at least the end of his visible career Salarian's didn't suffer from degenerative diseases of the brain as much as Humans or Turians. Bau was known primarily as being an agent who specialized in subterfuge, preferring to avoid the effective but highly visible style of Saren's brutality.

"Spectre Bau, I assume you have some additional information for me?"

A dry chuckle came over the line, _"Indeed, your target was exposed to some sort of device that was found on the border of the Terminus system. The transformation itself was sudden, and within minutes it had fought its way halfway through the base the device was being stored in."_

She frowned at his continual use of impersonal pronouns, "You haven't given me any information on the target itself, that would be useful information don't you think?"

 _"_ _Unnecessary, individual was non-combatant member of the STG. Actions post exposure would indicate a different intelligence at play, one that has advanced knowledge of combat techniques, as well as some skill with starship mechanics given how quickly the shuttle's transponder was disabled."_ There was a slight pause on the line before he continued, _"You are to kill on sight, understood?"_

"Understood. Anything you can tell me about the lab he hit, I'm just about to land."

 _"_ _Denda Medical, Small private corporation, backed by several Volus owned hedge funds."_ She could hear some movement on the other end of the line, and it wasn't hard to picture the Salarian pacing around some small office like a madman, _"Question is why? Most likely explanation is that they have some sort of unique technology, initial C-Sec findings turned up nothing, we need you to rectify that."_

The car settled down on the edge of the scene, only a few officers milled about the still closed off area. One of them, a Turian with blue facial markings approached her vehicle as she popped open the side hatch, "Ma'am, this is a restricted area, I'm going to have to ask you to leave before-" As the newly added symbol on her shoulder caught the light the Turian halted, mandibles flaring in surprise, "Shit."

She strode up to him, his file already streaming into her HUD, "Officer Vakarian, would you be so kind as to show me to whomever is in charge of this crime scene?" The Turian stood his ground for a few moments before giving her a slightly too fast nod, and she found herself led towards an Asari detective talking animatedly to a Volus.

"Look, we know that the perpetrator went into one of your labs. So you can either tell us what he was after, or I charge you with obstructing an investigation."

The diminutive alien simply crossed his stubby arms, "Denda Medical is an Illium based corporation, and as such our technologies are not to be disclosed to any law enforcement agency without a warrant issued by an Illium court judge." He uncrossed his arms as he activated his omni, "If you wish to pursue this course of action, I'll inform our in-house counsel immediately."

The human shook her head at the situation, as she had no interest in getting involved in an intergalactic legal spat. Her helmed head turned to regard the Turian, "Take me to the lab the detective mentioned." The Turian just sighed but obeyed her all the same, "C-Lab was already through this whole place, what exactly do you think you are going to find that they didn't?"

Her head tilted at him like he had asked the most obvious question in existence, "I plan to find what they didn't, Officer, I would have thought that to be obvious." She paused momentarily as she noticed a scorch mark that appeared out of place, "What caused that I wonder?"

The Turian barely spared it a glance before answering, "Keeper self-destruct, the contained burn pattern gives it away." He frowned as he dragged his foot through the blackened area, "Odd, I'd almost say that this happened around the attack, but this building isn't on a standard keeper route."

"You know the Keeper's routes?" The Turian gave a light chuckle, "They shift from time to time, but C-Sec makes sure that the most heavily travelled keeper zones are either marked or just simply closed to the general public." His avian eyes seemed to be measuring her, "You obviously haven't been on the Citadel much if this is new information."

"Is a Spectre being new to the Citadel surprising to you?" The officer for his part simply shrugged, "Just unusual, anyway one of the victims managed to send off a video of the perp entering this lab. We still aren't sure what they were developing in here," he let out a sigh, "Really hoping it wasn't a bioweapon."

She glanced around the room he had brought her to, taking stock of where everything was in the room as she spoke to her A.I, "I assume you have hacked your way into their system?"

'Yes, Ma'am. Though all the records in the past twenty-four hours have been deleted. There is also no record of any research projects in local servers.'

The human nodded, "Not unexpected, they probably have them off site in case C-Sec ever showed up." She moved to the middle of the room, "Rewind back to the latest footage that you have, and overlay it on top of the room as it is now."

There was no reply, instead holographic representations of objects began to fill her display, until the entirety of the room was existing in both a before and after state. Her head swivelled as she took in the changes that had occurred, until she realized that a seemingly undamaged secured storage unit had been moved clear the room, its back flush to the room's rear wall. Her footsteps crossed the room and with a grunt of effort she pulled the object free, and as it cluttered to the floor she found what she was looking for.

The back of the unit had been ripped open to gain access to the inside of one of the lockers, but more importantly the locker itself was registered to a pair of keycards, and as she crosschecked their I. D's with the individual's file's her A.I had obtained she turned to regard the Turian still standing at the door, "Officer, are you still holding a Salarian named Chorban?"

The Turian pondered the question for a few seconds before answering, "I think he's being questioned at a local precinct, I can get you the address if you'd like." Eva just shook her head at that, "I'd much prefer it if you came with me, Officer. Your file implies you have a brain in that head of yours, so I would much prefer it to be assisting me than guarding an empty building."

As she strode past him the Turian just shook his head, "Dad always said there would be days like this."

S&S

The ride to the precinct itself was a quiet affair, the Turian wary of insulting a Spectre, and the Spectre simply had better things to do.

By the time they had touched down she had managed to work up a loose profile on the Salarian researcher in question; Chorban. He was from a clan with little power, and while intelligent he was only somewhat outside of the average range for his species.

His position at Denda had come thanks to his research partner Jahleed who had a family connection to one of the company's chief backers. Which meant that if anything went wrong here he was the first one to be sacrificed to protect the company, and she was willing to bet that the Salarian knew it.

She strolled into the C-Sec outpost with a purpose, a large light plated Turian pushing himself from his desk as she made her way into the back towards Chorban's cell, his voice calling after her, "Hey! You can't go back there; it's off limits to civilians!"

She merely kept walking, her distorted voice filling the room, "Do I look like a civilian, Detective?"

Garrus a few steps behind her hastily explained the situation, "Spectre business, Detective Sevenis, we'll be gone before you know it." The detective turned his attention to the smaller Turian, "Vakarian? Your father won't be too happy to hear you're playing lackey for a Spectre."

The blue armoured individual just gave a small shrug, "She didn't exactly give me a choice," he glanced towards the cells realizing the Spectre had continued as he talked, "Spirits, I better make sure she hasn't executed him."

That earned a chuckle from the individual who was settling back down into his chair, "If she does you're filing the paperwork!"

Garrus caught up to her just as she was pulling the Salarian into the precincts sole interrogation room, the Spectre's helmet minutely moving as she acknowledged the Turian's presence, "You're in luck, Chorban, the good officer here is going to make sure that you make it out of our little chat here alive."

The twitchy amphibian glanced from one armoured individual to the next, seemingly unsure which one was worst until he settled on the Spectre, "I don't know anything about the attack, my partner and I weren't even in the lab that day!"

Garrus gave a chuckle at that, "Then I'm sure you have no problem telling us what was in the secured locker in your lab. As far as we can tell whatever the perp wanted was in your locker."

The Spectre's distorted voice cut off the Salarian's retort, causing Chorban to jump in fright, "Which means, Chorban, that all those deaths are on you, and unless you want me to exercise your sentence right now I suggest you start talking."

The researcher glared at both his accusers, but his resolve deflated under the impassive gaze of Vakarian and the Spectre's visor, "Jahleed and I had been working on a side project, we're allowed to use the company's equipment as long as we could afford to rent it, and our backer could more than afford it."

He knitted his fingers together, "They wanted us to develop a scanner to examine the Keepers, we've been working at it for weeks and yesterday we had our first successful trial."

Garrus glanced at the Spectre, "The keeper residue we found at the scene," his gaze shifted back to the Salarian, "You know that it is illegal to not report a keeper's presence in an area." The dark skinned amphibian glanced down at the table, "We knew, but Jahleed and I figured what would be the harm in waiting a day. Once we reported a successful test our backer told us that someone would come by and pick up the prototype, so the two of us decided to celebrate that night, and we may have gone a little overboard."

Eva shook her head in disbelief, "So you survived because you got wasted, lovely." She crossed the room with a few swift strides, "Who is this backer of yours?"

At the closer proximity of the Spectre the Salarian's eyes widened in fear, "I don't know! We just knew the money was good so what did it matter?! I never wanted anyone to get hurt!"

The human spun on her heel and exited into the hall, her helmet muting the curses that were tumbling from her lips. Garrus had followed her exit from the room, clearing his throat before he began to speak, "I think I may have a lead."

The obscured head snapped towards him, and he could feel the intensity of the gaze even with a reinforced plate of armour between their eyes, "In the last month or so we've had reports of a Salarian interfering with the Keepers, not that unusual as a lot of first timers end up getting a little singed and then they don't do it again."

Seeing where this was going the Spectre gave a slight nod, "But this was different?"

"Yeah, he kept popping up, and always in the same area." He brought up his omni-tool, a map of one of the wards springing to life, "Kithoi ward, all of his appearances were in this area," a tap of his talon lit up a circle that covered much of the ward's industrial zone.

"If you thought you had his location narrowed down then why hasn't C-Sec done anything about it?"

Garrus just let out a quick chuckle at that, "You really think that I have that kind of pull, especially for something as low tier as Keeper abuse? I didn't even both filing a report, because I knew nothing would come of it."

Text began to scroll across her screen as her A.I already started the process of combing through the area in question, 'I believe I have located the target, tracking them now, Ma'am.'

She felt a grin form on her lips, "Come along, Officer, I believe your hunch has just payed off."

S&S

The skycar skimmed in the bottom of their current lane of traffic, the Spectre waiting until the target made slipped into whatever lair he was operating out of.

The Turian next to her was toying with his rifle's scope, having grabbed the weapon on the way out of the precinct. Growling lightly the officer adjusted another setting on the gun, causing the human to shake her head, "By the time you're done playing with your gun I'll have dealt with the target."

Garrus just shook his head, "So you would just pick up a random weapon and not even check the scope?" She had to concede that battle to him, but not the war, "I'm not arguing checking over a weapon, but you've already adjusted the rails, tweaked the power output, and slaved the internal computer to that visor of yours. One would almost think you're nervous, Officer?"

Garrus pulled out the ammo block, running a critical eye over the item in question before sliding it back into its slot, "Nervous? No. But, I'm not exactly thrilled to be getting dragged into this mess with just standard issue gear."

"Don't worry, Officer, I'll protect you." Even with the vocal distortion her sarcasm was evident, causing the Turian's mandibles to shift in annoyance.

She turned her attention back to the traffic surrounding them, even though the car's autopilot was engaged, though Garrus soon broke the silence, "You know I've not actually gotten your name yet."

"Because I didn't give it." Seeing the Turian's annoyed expression she sighed, "If you must call me something, Lady will suffice."

Garrus frowned at the moniker, he had obviously been assuming she was Asari, but the use of a gender based pronoun was either misdirection, or he was dealing with either a Drell or a Human. Neither of which were supposed to have a member in the Spectres, at least according to the latest C-Sec report on the shadowy organization.

Before any further questioning could occur the skycar suddenly dived towards the ground below, barely avoiding multiple mid-air collisions as the Spectre took the fastest route to their target; which just had to send them through multiple lanes of traffic.

The landing was no smoother either, as the rented vehicle was incapable of pulling out of such a steep dive smoothly. Instead it impacted against the ground, sending sparks flying as it skidded across metal plating, Lady though had already thrown herself out of the vehicle before it had even stopped, forcing the Turian to follow suit.

"What the hell is the rush?"

The featureless helmet briefly glanced at him as she grabbed the rifle from her back, "There was a massive spike in power shortly after he entered the structure, and call me paranoid but I'm doubtful that it will be anything good."

Garrus glanced up the face of the building, "If I can find a way to access the roof I should be able to provide you with cover," he started to look around for some means to get on top of the structure only to find himself being biotically flung upwards. The Turian barely managed to catch the edge of the building, grunting as he hauled himself on to the roof, "A little warning would have been nice!" But as he looked over the edge of the building he found that the Spectre had already slipped inside the structure.

"Nice to know she cares."

Shepard meanwhile was moving through the darkened building, her helmet alternating between visor modes in an effort to avoid whatever traps a STG agent infected with unknown technology might leave behind.

The building was industrial storage from the looks of things, heavy metal shelves formed towering hallways for her to move along. However, as she approached the middle of the structure a frown pulled at her features, the area had been cleared out and massive device had been erected in the centre of the room, while massive electrical cables trailed from the device and into a crevasse nearby. As she studied the device she realized that while she wasn't entirely certain of its purpose, her current best guess was that it was some form of signal amplifier.

She spotted a lithe figure moving near the amplifier, and curiosity forced her to edge closer so that she could hear the mutterings of what she assumed was her target, "Keeper's no longer viable, brute force attempt unlikely to succeed but still presents greatest chance of success with minimal risk."

The figure suddenly stood up straight, its head twisting at an almost unnatural angle as it starred directly at her, "Hostile detected, engaging." A flash of red filled the room, and before she could react she found herself crashing through several of the shelves that haphazardly filled the space behind her. One of them collapsed down on top of her, buffeting her body with dense metal beams.

A growl of anger emerged from her as she lashed out with her biotics to free herself, unsteadily making her way to a standing position as her rifle came to rest in her hands. The weapon quickly went to work filling the space between herself, and her opponent with accelerator rounds. The Salarian though didn't seem to notice the metal that was impacting his flesh as he continued to gain speed in his approach towards her.

The human blinked in confusion, "Well, that's not good."

A crack filled the room, surprising both Eva and her opponent, as a round from Garrus' rifle slammed into the Salarian's torso, though instead of eliminating the target it simply caused the infected individual to glance down at the gaping hole in their chest. Eva though wasn't one to waste time, and decided to go with an old standby.

When in doubt, use more gun.

Throwing her rifle to the ground she hefted the launcher on to her shoulder, a quick double tap of the trigger disabling the guidance system as she launched a projectile towards the still unmoving Salarian; though she was careful to ensure that if the strike missed the projectile would instead hit the amplifier. The Salarian's head glanced along the path of the projectile, and as it began to shimmer she realized it was trying to surround itself in a barrier.

She pulled the trigger only to find herself starring at a blinking symbol informing her that she was out of ammunition, "Shit!" Her voice carried through the room as she tossed her launcher, diving for her discarded rifle, "Officer! A little help!"

"I'm on it!" She caught a glimpse of the Turian on one of the upper catwalks, a flash from his rifle as an oversized round designed to shatter biotic barriers with sheer mass emerged from the weapon.

The round struck seconds before the missile, but that was enough, or at least that was what Eva had thought.

A blur of fire, metal, and melted flesh slammed into her, at this distance she could see the cybernetics that artlessly twisted their way through its body. Her examination was cut short though as it slammed a fist into her chest, her armour groaned and buckled from the pressure and her boots sparked against the floor as she was literally sent skidding backwards from the blow.

"Disengage limiters." A beep of affirmation confirmed that her cybernetics were no long operating within 'normal' parameters, and as the hostile moved in for another strike her right arm lashed out, the omni-plates, combined with the disengaged safeties of the arm causing the Salarian's skull to warp under the pressure of her blow, before it tumbled away from her.

Its head snapped toward her as its body jerkily moved upright again, only a single red orb glaring at her from the undamaged side of its face, "Damage beyond baseline ability of this cycle's species, likelihood of target being enhanced by non-natural means; 87.65%."

It lunged at her again, but another shot from Garrus caught it in the leg forcing it to instead tumble forward. She dodged the now clumsy strike, slamming another blow into its shoulder, and found herself rewarded as the blow ripped the limb entirely from the creature's torso.

Any celebration was quickly cut short though, as she found the still functional limb wrapped around her neck, which was followed by a violent throw across the room. Her arc took her past the device in the centre of the room, and she only managed to avoid skidding into the abyss by digging her cybernetic hand into the plating; leaving a set of grooves that trailed halfway across the open area. She instinctively glanced down, and found herself looking down into the heart of one of the massive power plants that kept the wards functioning.

Another high powered shot, followed by a tremendous scream of metal signalled that the creature had likely turned its attention on to Garrus, but as she made her way to her feet she could see the Salarian unsteadily making its way toward her, crimson bolts of energy jumping from its body and into the surrounding area.

The creature glanced down at the grooves she had made in the floor before raising its remaining arm, and in a grotesque transformation the still partially organic limb morphed into an incredibly dangerous looking rifle, "You have delayed us long enough, human."

Her doom though was forestalled when a high impact shell slammed into the ex-Salarian's side, sending it sprawling to the ground, "Well, you've made a mess of this job haven't you?" The speaker's voice was unmistakable to her, and she couldn't hold back the anger that caused her to snarl out his name, "Saren."

The other Spectre spared her only a momentary glance, "Lady."

As she made to demand why he was here the alien smirked, "You didn't exactly make it hard to follow you, Lady, and I would never count on Nihlus to do anything of actual importance," the silver Turian moved further into the structure, his body encased in a heavy exo-skeleton, the type of gear you would only wear if you planned on fighting a Krogan hand to hand, "Your mother would be sorely disappointed by this showing, then again I already told the Council that I was doubtful that you possessed even half her talent." His eyes quickly raked her body, noting the bleeding wound that she had yet to notice, "I'm glad to see that, once again, my opinion is vindicated when it comes to a member of your species."

He turned his attention away from her and back to the hostile in the room, pulling from his back a large Turian manufactured rifle the Spectre let out a storm of rounds into the creature. The hail of fire successfully keeping it in place as Saren advanced, but a single shot from the bio-rifle nearly took off Saren's head, only his swift reflexes saving him but not his right mandible.

A growl of pain erupted from the Turian, who lashed out with a vicious kick that sent the creature bouncing against the nearest bulkhead. That same foot then came slamming down on to the thing's remaining arm, disarming it in multiple ways.

Satisfied that the threat had been dealt with the Turian grabbed its throat with the suit's hand, as he, almost casually, walked it over to the ledge that she had nearly fallen into prior. Taking one glance below the Turian grinned, "This should take care of you." and proceeded to unceremoniously toss it into the crevasse. As a storm of electricity sounded off down below he turned his gaze back to her, "That wasn't so difficult now, was it?"

She glowered at him as she struggled to make her way towards the device, only for the Turian to block her way, "You need to leave, I'll handle the clean-up, if you behave yourself I'll even keep this little incident just between the two of us." She made to argue with the Turian but he impassively cut her off, "You need to leave before someone more observant then you C-Sec friend buried in the rubble notices the colour of your blood, the Council may have signed off on your ridiculous little arrangement but I'm doubtful they want to confirm that you are human this early in the game."

She hated the smug look on his face, but even more than that she hated that he had a point, only stopping to grab her gear that had been scattered during the fight. At least that was what she had intended to do before she stumbled across the thing's arm that she had knocked off during the fight. Glancing back towards Saren she found that he was busy conversing with another Turian who had seemingly appeared from nowhere, neither of them paying her any attention.

Which was how she managed to slip the arm discretely into a small container that had been thrown across the room during the fight. After all, there was no reason for her to leave completely empty handed.

S&S

Miranda frowned as her Mother stormed into the room, "I take it the meeting went poorly?"

The blonde gave a tense nod, "Understatement of the fucking century." She moved over to a nearby cabinet, pouring herself a generous amount of an amber liquid she hid inside, "He threated Oriana's safety, we may have to accelerating moving her to someplace more secure, and we'll have to do it without him finding out."

Miranda glared at her, "Why did he threaten my sister?" Her voice while perfectly calm held a razor sharp edge to it.

The older woman set the glass down with a small clink, "He knew that I helped Eva, and it seems he believes that some pressure is needed to keep me in line." Recognizing her daughter's attempts at internalizing her fury she closed the distance between them, "Hit me."

"What?!" The coal haired woman's voice was incredulous from the statement, but the blonde simply repeated her statement, "Hit. Me. Come on, it will make you feel better; we both know it."

The younger of the pair surged forward, but suddenly found herself tumbling past Hannah, the older woman having shifted her position at the last second, "Never make a decision in anger, Miri, if you are calm then you will never have any regrets if something doesn't turn out as you hoped."

Of course the lesson fell on deaf ears right then, as she had, understandably, pissed off the genetically perfect woman. Miranda launched herself at the shorter woman, Hannah though had been at this for a long time now, and she simply danced inside Miranda's guard knocking the younger woman to the floor this time, "I was thinking of moving Oriana to Illium, lots of traffic to cover our movement. I have a mission that will take me to that sector, so if you can arrange for Ori's move I can watch over the transfer from afar."

Her daughter's face shifted in anger, "I can't just uproot her life on a whim, Mom. Her foster parents hardly believe me when I warn them of the potential dangers my Father poses, do you really think they will just uproot themselves on my say so?"

The older woman extended a hand to her daughter, "No, but I think I can arrange for them to be offered a promotion at some new Illium start-up. Barla Von owes me a favour or two." When Miranda didn't accept the offered hand Hannah sighed, "Miri, you're my child regardless of actual blood, and if Jack was threatening you I'd have done the exact same thing, you know that right?"

This time the offer was accepted, but as Miranda brushed off her uniform she answered Hannah's question, "It's easy to make sure a claim, when you've never had to make the choice."

Her heels clicked as she left the room, and Hannah let her head drop at the meaning behind those words. She moved back to the cabinet and poured herself another glass, hoping to banish the age old fear that by trying to protect both her daughters she would end up losing them both.

S&S

"Ow."

Garrus let out a groan as he came too, his eyes blearily gazing around what had to be a hospital room, and he quickly became aware of the Asari officer watching him who quickly began to talk into her omni. Though that became much less interesting then the Salarian who burst into the room and increased his pain med dosage, and Garrus once again drifted off into a floaty, dreamless sleep.

He wasn't sure how long he was out, thanks to the fact that Hospitals didn't have night and day cycles in the ICU, but he was very aware of the fact that the Executor himself was looming over the end of his bed, a grin crossing his features the younger of the two broke the silence, "Executor Palin, I hope you can forgive me for not standing."

The older Turian scowled at him, "I told your father that you were going to be nothing but trouble, and when I was told that a Spectre had practically kidnapped one of my officers I somehow knew it was going to be you."

Garrus frowned at the mention of Lady, "What happened to the Spectre? Last thing I saw she was fighting that, thing." The Executor sighed, "Officer, everything that you saw, or heard, is classified, understood?" At Garrus' nod he seemed to relax, "This 'Lady' is apparently fine, you were delivered to this facility by one of Arterius' goons, but she contacted me shortly before then to tell me of your location."

"That's good, though can I ask how Saren features into all of this," at the Executor's glare the officer sighed, "Classified, I get it."

"Quite." Palin reached down to his belt, and pulled a small object into his palm, "The Spectre also informed me that you were an instrumental part of her investigation, in fact she had nothing but praise to say about you, along with a strongly worded hint that your talents were being wasted." He let out an annoyed sigh, "I don't like Spectres, let alone agreeing with one, but in this case I'll make an exception."

The Executor made his way around the bed and placed the object in his hand on to the nearby table, "Congratulations, Detective Vakarian, I'm sure your father will be proud."

S&S

The room was almost devoid of light, only an overhead light above the subject cut through the darkness as Saren made his way to the centre of the room, "Excellent work, Vaarn, the human never suspected that you intercepted this, thing."

The tan Turian gave a small nod, "Do you want me to get to work on examining that larger device?"

A small nod was all he got from the other Spectre, and normally Vaarn would call it there, but there was one question he needed answered, "What about the arm the human left with?"

A small grin pulled at Saren's features, "She won't be foolish enough to use them outright, and if she is stupid enough to try and reveal my presence at the scene I'll simply let it slip out that she is just as guilty." A dark chuckle came from the silver of the pair, "And if she does inject herself with the it, well that just saves me the trouble of being clever in how I get rid of her."

Saren's eyes locked with Vaarn's, "Now I believe you have work to do," nodding the lackey quickly retreated from the room as Saren began to stalk toward the examination table.

The silver Turian's gaze trailed along the cybernetic monstrosity that struggled against the bonds that held it to the table, "Now, creature, you and I are going to have a little chat. What you are, what you were doing, and most importantly what your connection to this is."

A single image flickered to life on a display mounted above the thing on the table, a massive super dreadnought that Saren had been hunting since that mission with Anderson years ago. A grim light danced in the Spectre's eyes, because he knew that this was the turning point in his quest to ensure the safety of the galaxy.

Both from the threats the Council was willing to admit existed, and those that the Council was content to shut their eyes to.

S&S

Credits Song: I See Fire performed by Zyrah

AN: Like I said earlier, sorry for the delay. No promises that it won't happen again as I've had a lot of work heaped upon me unexpectedly.

I wasn't really happy with Garrus and Shep's relationship in the original variant of S&S, I'm very much of the opinion that they are non-Romantic life partners with each other. So I thought it would be amusing to have them periodically team up once in a while, and who's to say that there isn't a human shaped reason why Garrus is such a bad Turian (Eva's an enabler).

Obviously some hints as to Saren's motivations, though one thing that always annoyed me is that Saren has been tracking Soverign since Anderson's failed evaluation in canon because there is research pointing to it being able to control the Geth, yet it is never explicitly stated as to why. I refuse to believe that it is simply so that he could wipe out humanity, as it is quite frankly so Saturday morning cartoon villainous that it isn't even remotely plausible.

Thanks to those who are still following me, and I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Buttons are below for those interested in clicking them/filling out the text box.


	7. Death of a Dream

AN: Well for those who watch E3 conferences that was a freaking bust when it came to Mass Effect. Ended up getting more info after the conference was over, which probably isn't the best plan from a publisher standpoint.

But you aren't here to read me ramble on about that, and if you are PM me and I will ramble on!

Song Themes:

Barla Von: Powerman by The Kinks

Saren: The Game by Motorhead

S&S

 _NASA, along with a variety of other international space agencies have successfully launched the first wave of modules and crew to Luna today._

 _The launches, which took place from several different sites across the globe, are part of the Luna initiative, their end goal being a near self-sustaining colony by the year 2069 to coincide with the original moon landing._

 _The largest of the modules, which has been nicknamed 'The Whale' for its unusual shape, launched from Cape Canaveral under the command of Marissa Dorlan, according to the schedule 'The Whale' will arrive ahead of the other modules, and her crews will begin the process of preparing the colony site before the other teams arrive._

 _We wish these intrepid explorers luck as they navigate the stars._

 _-White House Press Memo, 2063_

S&S

In the quiet of her rented room the Shepard moved about fitfully in the bed, her eyes darting about under her eyelids as she found herself once again trapped in her own memories.

 _Eva and David quietly made their way inside the Shepard complex that was located near the Rocky Mountains, though on the opposite side from where Vancouver, the major SA base in the area, lay. As the door shut behind them the pair glanced around, having expected Harrison to come and greet them as soon as they arrived._

 _Sighing David led the way further inside, finding the elder Shepard sitting in his office. A half drained bottle of some amber liquor sat next to him as he spoke to a familiar face projected on the terminal in front of him, "Thank you, Steven, for handling this. I know this isn't an easy situation for you either."_

 _Clearing his throat David gained the older man's attention, as the man tilted his head at the sound Eva noted that his eyes seemed duller then she remembered, "Ah, David, thank you for bringing Eva home." Eva's fists reflexively clenched at that statement, three years here and it had never felt like home, no place did, not without her Mother._

 _The man made his way unsteadily to his feet, his attention turning to his sole surviving blood relative, "Eva, I'm so terribly sorry."_

" _I'm sorry too, Granddad." As she tilted her head upwards to regard him she felt a flicker of fear as his visage suddenly twisted with an anger she had never seen before. The man lunged forward, but David, having anticipated this, intercepted the snarling man, "What the hell is that, David!"_

 _Realizing his gaze was fixated on her cybernetic implant the girl's hand unconsciously made its way to that side of her face, Harrison making another attempt at getting at her caused the young Shepard to let out a small gasp as she backed away._

 _Anderson let out a growl at the other man's actions, and began to haul him out of the room, "Eva, just stay here while I get this sorted."_

 _The blonde girl could only give a small nod of affirmation as she was still reeling from the anger that had been on display. Her body still on edge from the adrenaline that had begun to pump into her system she found herself glancing around the room, before it finally settled on the still active terminal._

 _Needing a distraction from what had just happened the girl plopped herself down at the military grade system, of course it only took her a few minutes to get through the security, and she called up the most recent file that she could access._

 **Eyes only for Harrison Shepard:**

 **I've had David analyze the wreckage like you asked, while the initial findings pointed to this incident being the result of a core malfunction are correct, it appears at this juncture that the malfunction was triggered purposefully. I've got people looking up leads, but we both know that Saren was sent as the Turian representative; writing's on the wall.**

 **Contact me if you have any further questions, and send Eva my condolences once again.**

 **-Hackett**

 _Eva's body trembled as she read the report again, it didn't make any sense. How could David not tell her about this! He was always going on about how Saren wasn't to be underestimated so how did he let him kill her Dad when he knew the Turian was on the station!_

 _She clenched her eyes shut at the thought of her Father, their last conversation had been an argument after he had stormed in on her and Benezia in the park. She grabbed the closest object she could find, which turned out to be her Grandfather's antique paperweight, and hurled it against the nearby window with a scream of rage._

 _The object bounced harmlessly off the reinforced material, but it did cause David to come thundering into the room, "Eva, what's wrong?" She didn't answer, instead she just let out all her anger in a shout of pure rage, only to stare in shock as a blue field emerged from her body to slam into the older man._

 _The Doctors had warned her that she may begin manifesting biotic inclination given the amount of eezo she had been exposed to in conjunction with her earlier exposure in the womb, but she hadn't taken any of that seriously._

 _As she watched David struggle to process what had happened she took off, heeding the advice her Mother had left behind in her journal, 'If the situation isn't to your advantage retreat is always a better option then fighting a loosing battle.'_

 _The girl dashed outside the building's front entrance, making a beeline for the nearby treeline. Genetic modifications had granted the plants the ability to weather the super storms that ravaged the area, though the most of the animal life was slower to adapt. As the sky blackened with the wings of crows she knew that one such storm was coming, the birds had long ago learned to flee to the safety of human enclosures during such time, roosting underneath the powerful barriers that protected the human structures from the aftermath of several lifetimes worth of polluting the planet._

 _Eva though had another location in mind, a small bunker that she had refurbished during her time here. She preferred it to the compound when her Grandfather was away on business and she wasn't at school, there were no ghost of her Mother there, or her Father either she supposed._

 _Dashing through the increasing winds she threw in another burst of speed when she caught sight of her destination, her fingers quickly tapping in the code to unlock it as branches began to creak and break under the natural wrath of the planet. As soon as the heavy metal door slammed behind her the girl slumped to the floor, tears spilling down her face as a gamut of emotions ran through her, a strangled cry escaping her lips, "Damn it Dad!"_

 _How could he leave her like this, he had promised after Mom had died that he would never put her through this._

 _Her mind though rebelled against the feeling of helplessness, and as her head glanced up at the small terminal she had set up a vision cropped into her mind._

 _She'd just have to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again._

The, formerly blonde, human shot out of her bed, her chest heaving from the effort of disengaging from the memory she had been trapped in, "Fucking graybox," Internally she growled to herself, the Salarian had better not have fucked up that install; or there would be consequences.

Necessity though forced her to action, though Eva winced as she got to her feet. The wound in her abdomen, while well on its way to being healed thanks to modern medicine, was still reminding her about how she needed to get some real armor.

The Asari armor had been useful in a pinch, but they were a race that relied on mobility and biotic power in combat. As such their armor wasn't designed to take as much punishment as human gear was, as her recent encounter had taught her.

The problem was that stock armor wasn't going to do her any favors either, but she certainly didn't have access to the kind of facilities that would be able to produce something to her specs, well without having to answer a thousand questions that she wouldn't be able to answer. Of course she knew of one possible solution to her current dilemma, she was just unsure if it was the right choice.

Her eyes drifted down to the datapad she had taken from Tevos' office, it had been tossed into the corner once she had made her way back to her room in order to better ignore it. She had long since known the how in regards to her Father's death, but she never knew the why, and she honestly wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

Her relationship with her Father had been, strained. He had never really been able to connect with her intellectually, and she hadn't been able to comprehend his moral standpoints; such as why he saw all aliens as such threats. Even before his death Anderson had been more of a Father to her than her biological sire, Eva only saw him rarely outside of official functions that she had to attend.

But he was still her Father, and she felt at least duty bound to know what had resulted in his death. Resulting in her reaching forward to grab the pad with slightly trembling hands.

Most of the data was, she quickly learned, fairly innocuous, simply reports about troop repositioning, a set of minutes from a few Council meetings, but there was one file that stood out from the rest, an after-action report following her Father's assassination.

It took a few seconds for her internal translation software to humanize the document, but she was quickly began tearing through the data.

 _Operation Dulled Thunder: Brief prepared by Jondum Bau_

 _Target: John Andrew Shepard (Primary), Steven Hackett (Secondary), Ines Lindholm (Secondary), Kastanie Drescher (Secondary)_

 _Target Status: John Andrew Shepard (Eliminated), all other targets unharmed._

 _Field operative: Saren Arterius_

 _In early February of 2168 it was becoming clear that problems were developing between the military of the SA, and the elected Alliance Parliament. Military figures routinely took hardline positions against further integration with the Council following Harrison Shepard's semi-retirement to Earth. Also there were persistent sightings of a high ranking Cerberus member meeting with Shepard over the course of the year, this agent was identified as being E.C._

 _The broker was contracted to bring proof of any potential trouble from the SA's admiralty, as the STG have proven to be inept at gathering information on the human's thanks to their reliance on physical data transfers, the brokerage, more adept at their tasks, informed us that a military coup was being planned against the elected government._

 _The Council approached the SA's Prime Minister, Eliza Leung, through backdoor channels, and were informed that the SA would not oppose the situation being handled by a Spectre (It is at this point that Arterius went on a tangent regarding humanities general lack of morality), and It was decided upon that Saren Arterius would be sent to handle the situation._

 _(Let the record show that Spectre Arterius was opposed to this assignment.)_

 _The plan was for an altered drive core to be installed in the Admiral's personal shuttle (this was handled by the brokerage for a considerable fee) with Saren acting as the triggerman. The shuttle would then be piloted to the final meeting that Admiralty was having to finalize the coup, at which point the shuttle would detonate and compromise whatever vessel they were meeting on (the Broker's intel pointed firmly to the meeting being on a small vessel). If the ship somehow survived the detonation then Saren would utilize a common, but powerful, NK-58 Gunship to eliminate the vessel and any survivors if he deemed such action necessary._

 _The end results were quite different._

 _Saren triggered the core early (he refuses to say why) resulting in the death of only Admiral Shepard, and Jason Taylor, the Admiral's aide de camp. The Admiral's daughter, Evalyn Shepard, was also caught in the explosion, and while she survived it is known that she has had at least one cybernetic augmentation in the aftermath (humans while culturally unopposed to synthetic life are extraordinarily opposed to augmenting their own bodies) which is likely to lead to social isolation._

 _For a more in-depth breakdown of the chain of events, I have included several detailed analyses that are attached to this file._

Eva's fingers drummed on the table in front of her before she hurled the pad against a nearby wall, shards of the device striking her as it shattered against the surface.

"A coup!"

All of his fucking talk about serving the Alliance, about upholding not only its ideals but the will of the people, and he was planning on taking control for himself!

She slammed a fist into the table in front of her, "You probably didn't even think about what would happen to me did you!" She screamed at the broken device, venting her rage at the closest object, before once again attacking the table until she slumped to the floor. Ignoring the blood that flowed freely from her bruised and battered knuckles.

She cradled her head in her mechanical hand, refusing to allow tears to fall over a man who had put everything else before his own daughter. Then again, there seemed to be a recurring theme of people placing her last in their priorities.

Latching on to that thought she pushed herself back to her feet, using the anger flowing through her body to focus her priorities. No one was looking out for her, and history had proven that no one ever would. So that meant that she had no one to rely on but herself, and she wasn't doing herself any favors raging about the decisions of a man long dead, or by hesitating when opportunity was right in front of her.

Still though, she still felt compelled to say one thing to her Father's ghost, if such a thing actually existed, "Fuck you, Dad."

S&S

As she arrived at the banker's office she noticed that instead of being inside he was sitting at a small table just to the side of the entrance, and while he was seemingly deep in conversation with another of his species though Barla Von waved her over anyway.

"Miss Danvers, I hope that you are here to tell me some good news." The human gave a small nod of her head, before she was forced to take a step back as the other Volus shoved his way past her, "Watch yourself, Earth Clan."

She idly considered using her biotics to bounce him into the lake, but the resulting migraine likely wouldn't be worth the small amount of enjoyment she might get out of it. Instead she just shook her head, "He's not in a good mood is he?"

Von gave a shake of his head, "Ambassador Korlack is rarely in a good mood, he was most annoyed when I informed him the brokerage is unable to get him his own office at the embassy." The volus shuffled his way over to a cabinet drawer that was hidden as just any other wall panel, his stubby fingers flicking their way through the datapads inside, "It is not the first time that someone had misunderstood what the brokerage is fully capable of."

Trundling back over to his desk the Volus placed the datapad in between them, "I've drawn up all the necessary documents, including my cut. Though in the interest of friendship I'll forgo my fee for the first business year." Evalyn for her part just gave him a wry grin, "I haven't said yes yet."

The Volus simply waved off her comment with his hand, "You gave me your answer the moment you returned, and we both know the deal was too good to pass up. I've even got some very attractive employee dossiers already lined up for your perusal."

One of Eva's eyebrows quirked at that, "You're going to an awful lot of effort for this deal, what are you getting out of it?"

The Volus was quiet for a few moments, until he reached into one of his suit pockets and withdrew a banged up metal medallion that a dozen or so square holes punched in it, "How much do you know about Volus culture, Hel?"

"Just what was covered in school, my training was mostly focused on the big three." Nodding at that the Volus continued, "We are a very value based society, and by that I mean everything has value. From items to people everything has a constant or fluctuating value, and at times people are traded to cover things such as debts."

He raised a hand when he saw the flare of anger in the human's eyes, "This isn't slavery, the person returns home once the debt has been satisfied, and if they are treated poorly the debt is forfeited." He shifted the small item in his stubby fingers, an action that seemed well practiced to the human, "I already had a keen financial mind when I was still back on Irune, and my clan leader was utterly incompetent, the combination of those two factors made for a rather unstable childhood."

Tapping the old metal against the shiny white desk, "This is given to a Volus when they reach adulthood, each hole represents a time when I was traded to satisfy some debt. My clan was going to ask me to takeover as clan leader, but I had already received a more tempting offer."

Crossing her arms, the human took an educated guess, "The brokerage?"

"Indeed, they had been following me for quite some time already. They opened doors that would have taken me years to simply become aware of their existence, but it also came with some less than desirable baggage."

The medallion disappeared back into the pocket from whence it came, "So, perhaps you can consider this all to simply be payment for a future favor." The Volus' head twisted so that it could look up at the human, "Do we have a deal?"

Eva extended her hand, which the smaller alien quickly took, "Yes, we have a deal." She glanced around the small office, "You mentioned something about dossiers?" Before the smaller sentient could reply an incoming transmission popped up on her display, seeing that it was coming from Bau she moved away from the Volus motioning for him to give her a moment.

Accepting the hail, she spoke softly as she made her way outside and into the open air, "Danvers here."

"The Council wishes to debrief you on your first official assignment, I would advise you make your way to the tower immediately." Letting out an annoyed huff of breath the blonde nodded, "Understood."

Cutting off the call she moved back into the Volus' office, "Somethings come up, but I'll pick up those dossiers once I've finished my current business." She didn't wait for the reply, instead she set off at a quick pace towards the tower that dominated the Presidium's sky.

S&S

The Illusive Man stepped into the dimmed room, frowning at the lump he could make out on the bed, "Kelly, you said you had something on Eva?" A light groan emerged from the figure, but he could make out her hand motioning for him to stop when he went for the room's lights.

"Sorry, Sir. I was about to report in when a migraine hit me." The man's glowing eyes made it easy to see his annoyance, even in the darkened space, "Have you been taking you medication, Kelly?"

The silence that pervaded the room was all the answer he needed, "Kelly, you know what will happen if you stop taking your medication, yet for some reason I find myself having to constantly remind you." The man let out an annoyed sigh as he reached into his coat and pulled out a cigarette, the woman frowned at the objects appearance, "I'd prefer you not smoke in my room, Sir."

"I'd prefer you not waste my time, Miss Chambers. If you want to die simply say so, Widow will see to it right now if you like. But I have not spent this much time, and effort in training you to see your stubbornness undue it all." A red flame burst to life in his hands, though it was quickly hidden as he brought it up to light its target, "Now tell me what you found out."

Closing her eyes, as even the mild light being given off by the flame in the man's hand was causing her eyes to tear up, the woman slowed her breathing as she forced herself to focus, "Hannah intends on moving Oriana to another location, Miranda doesn't seem enthused about the idea but she also doesn't approve of her Sister being a target of reprisal for something that is between Hannah and yourself." Another groan of pain interrupted the woman's report, "Hannah mentioned something about contacting Barla Von, he owes her a favor I believe."

Smoke drifted in a haze around the Cerberus leader's head, "Do you think Miranda could be salvaged if we have to remove Eva?"

"Not if you kill her," Kelly rotated on her bed, turning away from the man, "If you somehow subdued Hannah though, Miranda would likely do whatever you needed of her to keep her mother safe."

A knock sounded at the door, and as it opened Widow slipped inside, pressing a small container into Harper's hands, "Thank you, my dear."

"Of course, Master." Jack simply nodded at that, before setting the object on the table next to Kelly, "This is fresh bottle, I want you to take one the moment I leave. Understood?"

"Yes." Giving a satisfied nod at that the Illusive Man left the room, Widow trailing behind him, "I'm need you to get down to the communication hub, and tell Graham that I'll need him to work his magic for me.

"And who shall I say is the intended recipient, Master?"

"Saren."

S&S

Eva was escorted past several security checkpoints until she was handed over to Bau, the aging Salarian gave a quick nod to the C-Sec officers as he led the human to a room that was situated deep in the tower.

As the door opened she saw that there was already another person in front of the Council, unable to make out who they were from here she slipped into the doorway and made her way forward. The human only came to a halt once she came to the center of the room, her eyes flicking to see that it was Vasir who had already been present in the room.

Before she had a chance to inquire as to why the Asari was there a door in the rear of the chamber opened, and the three Councillors entered the room. No words were spoken until they were all seated, at which point Sparatus turned his gaze toward the human, "What do you know about the Anhur situation, Lady?"

Eva thought over the question for a few moments before responding, "Anhur is an independent Council world, much like Noveria. The populace was evenly divided between the initial Batarian settlers, and the later human immigrants. The world has extensive resource deposits, but most crucially is one of the most stable sources of element zero in the traverse, or it was before the rebellion."

Valern made a small noise of annoyance at that fact, but the human continued, "The Batarian's, citing cultural protections, began to use increasing amounts of slave labor to force out human competitors. Worried about becoming uncompetitive human corporations managed to force the local government to abolish the minimum wage, effectively turning most of their workforce into slaves." She shook her head at that, "Of course that went about as well as one could expect, and the newly minted slaves revolted. Though they didn't stop there, and instead they began a bloody campaign to abolish all forms of slavery from the planet, which the Batarians took affront to for obvious reasons."

She let out a sigh, "The Batarians and their corporate human allies responded by secretly funding an 'independent' organization known as the Na'hesit, and the two sides have been at war for roughly a year and a half."

Tevos gave a small inclination of her head, "While we obviously oppose the Na'hesit in this situation we were content on letting the situation play itself out, both the Council and the SA have been jointly supporting the abolitionist faction. It was viewed as simply a matter of time before the Na'hesit was beaten and Anhur could begin to rebuild."

Folding her arms across her chest the human tilted her head, "So what changed?"

All three Councillors turned to look at Vasir, who tapped a series of quick commands into her omni, "The Broker a few weeks ago came across a highly encrypted transmission between the Na'hesit and Aria T'Loak, offering her a cut of the eezo trade in support for her aid. Aria's power has only increased with both Anhur and the Thraxus eezo mines rendered inoperable, and so she called in a very hefty favor."

A dark blue Asari appeared on the screen as Tela continued talking, "Jona Sederis, she's the founder of the 'proactive' security company named Eclipse. They are a small but established name on both Omega and Illium, but she's been looking for an opportunity to expand into Citadel Space. From what we can tell Eclipse began initial mobilization of their assets a few days ago, but it will take them time to get all their forces into position."

Valern voice interjected, cutting off further questioning for the time being, "Eclipse will in all likelihood take at least seventy days before they are ready to attack. You will be granted thirty days to see to your affairs, Lady, and then you and Spectre Vasir will go to Anhur and prepare the abolitionist forces to repel the Eclipse forces."

The human frowned at that, "Wouldn't it make more sense for us to go now? Instead of waiting for them to be on the move." Vasir shook her head, "If we wait then they will only have what forces they think they need to handle a bunch of poorly trained freedom fighters, if they know we are waiting for them they'll bring every gun that isn't bolted down on Omega."

"Plus you need to get your affairs in order, we aren't in the habit of bankrolling our agents if you weren't aware." Sparatus practically growled at her, though she wasn't sure if it was from annoyance or he just liked playing the bad cop.

Tevos gave him a small glare, though the Turian calmly met it, sighing the Asari glanced back to the pair before her, "Lady, you've been chosen for this mission due to your familiarity with human technology, and because you have proven leadership skills. Tela will be acting both as your mentor on this mission, and she will be staying behind once you mission is accomplished to hammer out a new constitution for Anhur that will avoid such, unpleasantness; in the future."

The human arched an eyebrow at the Asari next to her, "You? Are going to write out a constitution?"

"I went to law school thank you," a flash of interest flickered across the human's face, causing Tela to shoot her sly grin, "I'll tell you about it sometime, if you promise not to slam me against anymore walls when we're all alone." The human jaw clenched at that, "Can't you ever be serious?"

Blue lips quirked into an even wider grin, "Oh, I'm not sure if I'm ready for to take our relationship to the next level, Lady."

"Eh, hem." Both suddenly turned to see a very annoyed Valern glaring at them, though it was Sparatus who addressed them, "You're both dismissed, and next time attempt to be more professional, Tela." The Turian shook his head as he muttered to himself, "For our sake as much as yours."

S&S

Eva was nearly to the into a lift when an unmistakable voice called from behind her, "Miss Danvers, I require you in my office."

The human's head turned, her visible crimson eye glaring at the silver Turian, though she noticed the presence of a sloppy medi-gel patch had been thrown over the mandible he had lost in the fight the day prior. Knowing that she was in public she was forced to act in a manner befitting a private citizen, giving a small deferential nod of her head, "Of course, Spectre, though I have no idea what you might need me for."

The Turian shot her a disingenuous smile as she slipped into step beside him, "I'm sure you will find out quite soon."

She tried, unsuccessfully, to not roll her eyes, but any retort on her part was halted as Saren gestured for her to enter a doorway that had just opened. As she entered the stark space she shot a critical gaze around the room, though the Turian seemed unconcerned at her caution as he settled into the chair furthest from the door, "Apologies if the creature comforts aren't to your liking, human. Some species have managed to be productive without creating designer ergonomic chairs."

"What do you want, Saren?"

At that the Turian let out a low chuckle, "A great many things, but you, you can offer me nothing." He shook his head, "When I first met your mother I knew that the two of us would be opposing one another for a long time, it is rare to meet someone so capable who is a Turian, let alone a human of that caliber." His gaze tracked to the human in his office, "Imagine my disappointment when I saw you in action; no plan, outclassed, and you are utterly incapable of operating by yourself." Taking a small moment to pull out a datapad from his desk drawer he smiled to himself, "I told the Council you weren't Spectre material, and after a few more showings like that they'll come around to my point of view."

The human practically vibrated with rage, "Such a shame isn't it that I can't fill the void that my Mother's death left in your life then, but I don't need to prove anything to you." She turned to leave but was halted by Saren's low chuckle, "Come now, there is no need for lies between the two of us, Shepard." As her head turned to fix itself upon the seated alien he ran a talon along one edge of the object in his hands with a flourish, "We both know that your Mother is alive after all."

She steeled herself to not react to the nonchalant confirmation the Spectre had given her, "I find that somewhat unlikely, Saren."

Saren though just let out another chuckle, "Really, I know that you've been investigating this matter yourself, so why bother to deny it?" He shot her a smirk when her whole body visibly tensed from his statement, "Really? What other reason would I have had for keeping you alive all those years ago, a dead child is a tragedy, certainly. But one that is maimed, forced to watch as her Father disintegrated before her, well what Mother could live knowing that her choices resulted in that chain of events."

Eva's metallic hand slammed into the desk's metal surface with a screech as her fingers warped the surface, using the newfound leverage she slammed the desk towards the Turian as her left grabbed the pistol built into her cybernetic arm, "Explain, or I will blow your goddamn head off!" The Turian just let out a rumbling chuckle as he placed the file still in his talons between them. When the human's aim didn't waver he shot her a smirk, before making a great show of being unable to open his desk drawer.

Growling in frustration the human stepped back, and slammed the desk into the other wall. Her attention never wavering from Saren as he proceeded to pull a small OSD from the same drawer the file had resided in.

The Turian extended the datadrive in his recently sharpened talons, "Everything you want to know is on this drive, I'm sure you will find it most, illuminating."

Evalyn snatched the object from the Turian, but even she had to question this generosity, "What are you getting out of this?" Which only caused the Turian to actually bellow with laughter, and only once he regained his composer did he answer.

"I'm just fulfilling a promise that I made a long time ago, Shepard. Now get out of my office."

The human's face flickered through several hard to discern emotions before she effectively fled from the room, her hand gripping the disk hard enough that the metal edge of it cut through her skin resulting in a thin trail of blood to trickle out from her palm.

Saren trailed behind her, enjoying the sight of the distraught human, and as he noticed movement to his side he inclined his head briefly to Sparatus, "Councillor."

The other Turian eyed the Spectre warily, "What are you up to, Saren?" The question simply elicited a dark chuckle from its target, "Simply a test to ensure that her loyalties are where they say they are, after all that is what provisional status is all about and as the senior operating Spectre it is in my authority," He glanced at the politician beside him, daring the other to challenge him, "Or am I wrong?"

An aggravated sigh emerged from the Councillor, "Just don't get her killed."

Saren simply laughed again as he made his way back to his office, "That is entirely up to her."

S&S

'You have an appointment to meet with a contractor at the spaceport once we land. Barla Von has a controlling interest in the company, and he insists that they are discreet.'

When no reply came from the human, who had been unusually reserved, even more than usual that is, the A.I's code flickered with worry, 'Ma'am, are you alright?'

Evalyn though just starred at the disk that had only left her hand for a minute when she had been forced to pull on her flight suit, "No."

"Can you take control of the ship for a while, I, I need to concentrate on this data." Syncing the disk with her omni she ran it through triple her usual security protocols, she had nearly begun a fourth when she forced herself to admit she was stalling for time. The air practically vibrated with finality as one moment the cockpit was empty save for the light from the instrument panel, and the next second it was filled with dozens of displays, all blazing with damning information.

 _Eva Core (Hannah Shepard) suspected to be involved in breakdown of talks between Volus protectorate and SA over colonization rights to the high pressure world Patavig in human space._

 _Saren reports that one of Henry Lawson's missing children has been adopted by Eva Core, he recommends listing her as a pressure point equal to or greater than Evalyn Shepard to use against Core._

 _Jondum Bau reports encountering a Cerberus operative matching the description of the late 'Hannah Shepard' (Eva Core), he made several pointed remarks that Saren needs to learn to share his intelligence_ _ **prior**_ _(emphasis added by agent Bau) to contact with the enemy._

 _Latest Cerberus base had personnel in armor that is comparable in durability to that utilized by Krogans, Saren notes similarities between retrieved samples and that of a prototype suit designed and utilized by Eva Core._

 _John Shepard and Eva Core met three times this year, it is believed that Core is encouraging Shepard's isolationist tendencies. Core remains a non-target due to her ability to keep Jack Harper ('The Illusive Man') in relative check, her death at this juncture would only further radicalize the Cerberus organization at the time when neither the SA nor the Spectres are positioned to handle such a situation._

 _Spectre Jondum Bau confirmed KIA, while unconfirmed current evidence points to a sustained firefight with a heavily armed, highly mobile, armored attacker. Spectre V.I's state that the perpetrator is Eva Core to a 79% degree of accuracy._

All this data and so much more flooded at her, mission reports, security videos of the woman in bloody action, evidence of her engineering expertise having been used to design much of the terrorist organizations equipment.

The fact that she had gotten herself a replacement daughter.

And yet, Eva felt nothing. It was as if the world had turned to grey, draining with it not only all colour, but even the smallest trace of emotion with it as well.

'Ma'am, you've activated the emotional limiter past recommended levels, Ma'am?'

Ignoring the intelligence her hand reached out and tapped one of the video files, this one had been ripped from a Cerberus base's servers before the cell had managed to wipe the data fully.

 _Hannah swept a leg out knocking a raven haired woman to the mat below, "Come on, Miri, you can't allow yourself to be distracted in a fight."_

Eva quickly stabbed the video to stop the playback, her lips reciting the line that she knew had been going to be next, "A distracted mind, is a dead mind." She went to hit play again when suddenly she let out a scream of pain, unconsciously cradling her skull in her hands.

'Ma'am, I've returned the limiter to default settings, Doctor Solus advised against increasing it further.'

As her mind became a torrent of sorrow she instead pivoted emotionally, focussing on the rage as she growled at the A.I, "Never, ever! Interface with my cybernetics without my permission!"

Keeping the anger at the fore she once again turned to the data, she needed to know more, she needed to understand the why behind any of this. Even still she found herself voicing the doubting voice that was growing in the back of her mind, "It couldn't have been all just a lie, right? We weren't just another assignment to you mother?'

She shook her head to clear that thoughts away, her father and mother may have been a lot of things, but she knew that they had cared for one another; hadn't they?

She was about to disconnect the disk from the displays when a single line popped out at her.

 _Eva Core's movements have been traced to the Akuze colony, unsure what purpose of her mission was. STG informant within the SA has arranged for a ship to be sent out to investigate the situation._

Something inside of her snapped at that moment, the woman's head dropped down, as though her neck was unable to keep supporting it, hiding her face behind a veil of hair, and in the deathly silence of the cockpit a manic giggle escaped Eva's lips, "It's all gone."

Every memory from childhood, every single moment of her life before everything had gone to shit, those slivers of happiness that she always thought she could turn to in her darkest moments; they were all tainted now. Bringing her metallic fist up to her eyes a grim smile pulled at her lips as the light played across its surface, she spoke aloud, though she wasn't sure for whose benefit she was doing so, "I remember being told once that humans are the product of our memories, and that if our perceptions change of our past, it can lead to drastic changes in who we are."

She starred at the metal for a long while, for so long this had been something she hated, but now she had never seen a more welcome sight. Metal never lied, steel had never mocked her, machines had always been better to her then people, so why had she been so opposed to augmentation?

Her lips quirked in a small smile, "I wonder?"

"Ma'am?"

Startled from her reverie the human glanced up at the unfamiliar voice, a surprisingly soft smile formed on the human's face, "I see you've decided to upgrade to a vocal package."

A pregnant pause filled the cabin, but a reply did come, "Yes, though if you prefer I can go back to text, Ma'am."

The human shook her head, trying to keep a hold of a slight surge of maternal happiness she was feeling at the A.I's growth.

"No, no its perfect, though keep to text with anyone but myself. I wouldn't want someone to figure out what you are."

"Tess." One of Eva's eyebrows quirked at that, her lips pulling into a smirk when she took a guess at what the A.I meant, "Your name you mean?"

"Yes, if that is alright with you?"

She gave out a soft laugh as she brushed a strand of brunet hair out of her eyes, "Tess, I, I can't promise you that I can be a good role model, or parent, or whatever I thought I could be when I first designed you." She slumped back into her seat already feeling herself slipping back into her emotionally dampened state, only now noticing the rivulets of liquid on her flightsuit, and as she reached a hand to her cheek she found that she was in fact still crying, "But I can promise you that I will never abandon you." Her voice cracked at that, before she found herself repeating herself, "Never, I promise."

"Understood, Ma'am."

Eva found herself unable to keep her eyes open, the sheer degree of emotions she had gone through had exhausted her, and so she found herself slipping into the void of dreams. All the while secretly hoping that all of this had just been some terrible nightmare.

Once the A.I was satisfied that the human was asleep she let out a whisper quiet admission, "I'll never abandon you either, Mother."

S&S

Eva's head swivelled about as she made a more comprehensive tour of her newly gained property, the Batarian behind her was the head of the firm that Von had hired, and while he had been perfectly professional she still disliked having to deal with his kind on principal.

"I'm going to want the bottom three floors combined into a manufacturing area, I already have another company ready to install the production lines once your work is done." Glancing at the schedule she had projected in front of her, "If you and your men can accomplish the task on time, then you can expect the bonus that was promised. Fail, and I will have the Eclipse Sisters burn your business to the ground."

The Batarian grunted in annoyance at the threat, "If it were possible to do it in that timeframe I wouldn't be arguing with you, we would be haggling price."

A cruel laugh sounded behind the pair, "Now, Grash, we both know that isn't true, you are just scared that you will have to pull men off of my own projects to complete this lovely creature's work on time."

Eva's eyes flicked toward the source of the voice, both her eyes a matching crimson thanks to a contact over her remaining natural green orb, "Nassana Dantius, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The matron smirked widely at having been recognized on sight, "A human who knows to do her research, I like that."

She strode past the pair coming to a halt in front of one of the viewpoints, her lips quirked as she admired the never ending electrical storm that surrounded the rear of the complex, "Grash, you can take your teams off of the expansion of my dear Sister's clinic until the work here is done," she gestured with her hand for Shepard to join her, before shooting a glare at the Batarian, "You can leave now, Grash."

Once the Batarian was gone the Asari turned her head back to the view in front of her, "Such a lovely property you acquired, Miss Danvers. I've been trying to get that Volus to sell it to me for years, he obviously must be expecting quite the return in investment for him to essentially gift it to you."

Eva just let out a hum in response, causing the Asari lips to quirk into a wide smirk, "Not one to brag I see, no matter I'm sure that you will be a vibrant addition to the Illium economy." The human shifted at that, "As lovely as the view is Matron Dantius, I do have a lot of work to ensure that we are at full production as soon as possible."

Nassana gave another cold laugh at that, "No need to take offense dear, and please call me Nassana." The human though kept walking away, "I'd prefer not." Though instead of the response she hoped for it simply caused another bout of laughter, "Oh, I like you, Hel. That is your preferred term of address is it not?"

Eva's fists clenched tight, "It is normally reserved for those I consider my friends."

"Are we not friends, Hel?" The Asari leaned against the nearby viewpoint, flashes of electricity occasionally lighting up her face, "I did come all the way down here to invite you to a little soiree I am throwing." Nassana could see the gears in the human's head already hard at work, "It's the annual Dantius Ball, only the most successful are invited but Barla Von's support of your little venture has encouraged me to bend the rules a little this year."

Eva was furious inside, as she knew that no one would pass up this opportunity, it also meant that she was going to be forced into interacting with this amoral creature on a regular basis. Appearances though needed to be maintained, at least her etiquette training was useful for something for once, "I would love to attend, Nassana."

Dantius just smirked at that, "I thought you might," she strutted away like a cat who had just eaten a bird, "Oh, and, Hel, please do make sure you wear a dress, those suits you humans wear are just so obscuring."

S&S

"Unimpressed Statement: What has Barla Von gotten me into this time." The human glanced up from where she was tinkering with the first, and smallest, of the four omni-manufacturing lines that would eventually be running in the building, attempting to get the oil off her hands she brushed them against the casual clothes she was wearing as she stood up, "You must be Dekrin, I take it that our mutual friend didn't tell you much about what you were getting into."

"Indignant reply: I have not agreed to anything, human, though I appear to have once again been misled." The Elcor's head slowly glanced around the area, "Restrained curiosity: What is the purpose of the manufactory, it is too large for most consumer goods. Barla Von mentioned nothing about weapon design."

The human shot the alien a grin at that, letting her right arm, now covered in a layer of false skin, to trail along the edge of one of the machines, "You know I am familiar with how you lost your position as the primary military contractor with your homeworld, it certainly is a pity that they couldn't see the benefit in replacing your armed forces with a new line of drones."

"An even greater pity that your prototypes had such poor software, but you get what you pay for I suppose." She thumbed the activation switch on the machine causing it to spring to life, both forging and assembling a smaller scale replica of the drone that the Elcor had attempted to sell to his people, "Shall we see how it performs with the software that I designed?"

The Elcor's eyes shifted from her, and down to the small replica of his creation, "Intrigued: Proceed."

The small drone had been originally designed to operate in the same manner as the Elcor it was meant to replace, and so it sat on four heavy legs, while a pair of heavy accelerator cannons was mounted on a turret, with a quartet of linked light accelerators hung on another turret on the underside of the unit.

Of course the drone itself had no such weapons, instead as it stepped on to the prepared test area holographic targets began to flicker to life around it, and soon numerous holographic soldiers had engaged the mechanical.

" _Engaging targets."_ The drone itself was far faster then its appearance suggested, quickly closing the distance so that both of its weapon systems would be in range, the main canon already firing blowing its targets into holographic shards.

"Inquiry: What use would you have for these units, certainly there would be a more efficient design for your software."

The drone had by this point wiped out about a third of the holographic forces, but had lost a leg, or at least it was simulating the loss of one, when a heavy tank had landed a hit when the infantry had temporarily taken down its shields. She almost felt bad for one of the simulated soldiers when they rushed inside the drone's shield only to be gunned down by the underslung weapons, "I don't."

She smirked when the Elcor's eyes shifted from the mock battle to her, "I don't want this little toy that you made, I want you to make me the most versatile drone that you can." She shifted her gaze to look directly at the alien, "Right now the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and a few smaller outfits have a stranglehold on protection jobs across Citadel and Terminus Space, but they are all just thugs and people don't want to hire thugs, at least not if they can avoid it."

"Rumination: Instead of renting security out, you seek to sell it." The human nodded at that, "Exactly, if you contact a merc group you have to pay what they ask, and you have to hope they don't double cross you while you're at it," she gestured down at the drone that while it was damaged, had been victorious in the scenario, "Between your engineering expertise, and my custom software, Barla Von estimates we can have at least a seven percent market share in five years."

Knowing that Elcor in general didn't like to be rushed she patiently waited for the larger sentient to speak, "Skeptical: Seven percent?"

The human grinned internally, Barla Von had let it slip that the Elcor was having financial troubles, "That was his conservative estimate," she gestured for him to follow him, "I've also been contracted to fill out some, exotic, equipment orders from some clients who prefer to remain anonymous. You'll be paid a commission for those orders on top of your regular salary, as well as a guaranteed royalty for projects that you assist in."

Eva let a satisfied smirk cross her face when Tess reported that the Elcor's answers corresponded to his pheromones and body language. It was a somewhat common practice among Elcor outside of C-Space to hack their translators, one which she was glad her new colleague didn't practice; or at least was smart enough not to try it with her.

After all she needed him to make her new gear, and it would be a messy proposition if she had to get rid of him if he ever recognized who was wearing it and decided to inform others. Even if he didn't know that she was the client, she didn't want to draw any connections between any of her identities.

But for now, she would be satisfied that progress was being made, and ahead of schedule at that.

S&S

Credit Song: Incomplete by Phantasma

Bit of an odd request here, but can you guys bug me from time to time if I seem to go dark. Sometimes I just need a reminder that I'm supposed to be writing to get back into things.

Wasn't so much the case this time, I've been sick on and off for nearly a month and it is driving me nuts.

Mostly a setup chapter, and while it might not be super exciting it is necessary. I hope that Eva reacted a bit better, some had complaints about how she handled John's assassination so I hope that the flashback explains her somewhat muted reaction.

I always appreciate feedback, or general interest in my works.


	8. The Maiden

This chapter sucked to write!

I was torn between having the events of this chapter take place next chapter, or have the events as they are here. I bounced back three or four times, and well I hope that this worked out.

Also despite myself deciding that I was going to try to keep chapters a bit shorter to cut down on my rambling I make it even longer, and this was after I cut out nearly a thousand words that will be going in a later chapter.

I've also realized that my chapters are obscenely long, so in the future I'm going to be trying to get you guys some more focused chapters at a slightly faster pace (no promises, but good intentions abound). This will likely be one of the few 10000+ chapters from her on out.

Thanks to all those who leave feedback, PM's, and those who favorite and follow this work.

In other exciting news my art commission for ME 1 Eva is underway, along with a sketch of the tattoo that Wrex gives her. They are both being done by Niki-Frost on Deviantart (who did the S&S Eva picture) so I'll let you guys know once it is done.

Song Theme:

Liara T'Soni: Natural Born Sinner by In This Moment

S&S

 _A massive backlash has followed NASA's most recent disclosure that the command module known as 'The Whale' will be crewed entirely by synthetic humans. Beacon Technologies is providing their most state of the art synthetic bodies for the crew, with NASA taking the stance that any technology that can reduce the risk in outer space should be used._

 _This was only further complicated by an internal memo that was leaked to the Washington Post which stated that Whale crewmembers were not in fact being given a choice in the augmentation process. While Beacon Technologies in the memo promises that the technology exists to place the crew back in their original bodies, several crew members, including Commander Dorlan, have indicated their unwillingness to comply with such an order._

 _House Majority Leader Martin Cambritch had this to say on the leaked memo: "NASA on the eve of celebrating the historic pronouncement that man had taken his first mighty step into space, has decided to follow this achievement by spitting on that very legacy. I do not doubt the courage of Commander Dorlan or the rest of her crew, and it is my opinion that they should be allowed to not only lead our path to the stars. But to do so as God intended them to._

 _-CNN, 2063_

S&S

Tired eyes glanced at the large display next to her that was projecting all of the data she had on her mother. Battle strategies, technical specs, even a few videos of her that the previous Bau, apparently that was a complicated subject, had captured before he had been killed.

Groaning in annoyance she gave her a shake as she pushed the distraction to the back of her mind, Hannah Shepard was a matter for later. For now, she had another more pressing task to focus on.

"Helen," a sigh emerged from the human before she continued, "Fuck it, if anyone sees this I'm fucked anyway. Evalyn Shepard, log number eleven." The human shifted as she held up an injector gun in front of the drone that was recording the experiment, "Previous tests of the reverse engineered nannites have been successful, and so I am moving to stage two of the process."

The drone itself shook as though angry at her, "Tess would like to register her opposition to stage two, though I believe she's just being overly cautious."

"You're just being reckless!"

The outburst from the unseen entity caused a smirk to flicker on the Spectre's features, "Done with giving me the silent treatment?"

The drone suddenly moved positions and buzzed dangerously close to her face, if it was possible she would have sworn that its monoeye was glaring at her. "Someone has to monitor you. Ma'am. Given how little thought you are putting into the potential ramifications of this decision!"

Eva let out a loose shrug, "Maybe, or maybe not." She strode over to the medical table she had setup in the centre of the room, which itself was part of her private quarters that she had installed below her newly acquired property.

As she stretched out on the table she glanced at the drone, "You remember my instructions?" When silence only answered her, she turned to fix her gaze on the drone, "What were my instructions, Tess?"

"I believe your exact words were to: 'Fry you' if you appear to not be in control.'"

"Correct," she brought the injector up to her neck, wincing slightly as it did the task it was designed to do, "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine."

"I wish I could be as-"

The rest was cut off as unconscious claimed the human.

S&S

"What are the results, Doctor?"

Matriarch Massia sighed heavily as she sat down in front of the sole child of Benezia T'Soni, "Well, your biotics are well above the threshold for your age, but no real surprise there." Liara had turned her gaze away, already knowing what was to come, "I'm sorry to say, but my previous diagnosis has not changed."

Liara's folded hands clenched tightly, causing them to discolor from the sheer pressure she was exerting on them, "But I've never," trailing off she let out a sigh, "Thank you, Matriarch for seeing me on such short notice."

The shorter asari nodded, "Of course," but the Matriarch was unable to not voice her concerns to the maiden, "Liara, if you ever come to me again, or if I ever hear of yourself going to someone else to be tested again. I won't keep it a secret."

Liara's head jerked towards her, anger flashing in the normally subdued eyes, "Or what!" The maiden's usual timidity was lost in a flash of rage, "You'll tell my Mother?!" The Matriarch though just crossed her arms, unimpressed at the uncharacteristic outburst, "No, it won't be Benezia I tell."

Blanching at the meaning behind those words Liara seemed to deflate, causing Massia to move closer to the younger asari, "Liara, I've known you for nearly your entire life, and I know that things may seem; unfair." She let out a sigh, "You'd be right in that assessment, but that doesn't change the reality of the situation."

She patted the girl's arm, "You're young, and so how about we just chalk this little event up to a mistake of youth. However, there won't be a second such chance Liara. I owe a lot to your Mother, but not that much."

Before Liara could respond Massia's eyes flashed as she remembered something, quickly reaching into one of her coats pockets she pulled out a small identification card. Offering it to the maiden the matriarch smiled, "This will get you into a party Nassana is throwing next week, she always sends me an invite despite the fact I never go. So congratulations, you've won my yearly ticket give away." Seeing the hesitation from Liara the other asari pushed the small item into her hand, "You can let yourself live a little, Liara. I trust you, and it would do you some good to get away from your studies for a night."

Liara's eyes focused on the small device, and offering a small smile to the matriarch she gave a hesitant nod, "Thank you, Massia, but I can't accept. I need to get back right away, or I might miss one of my deadlines," she paused as she saw the annoyed glare that was being sent her way, "Massia? What's the matter?"

Massia simply huffed in annoyance at the maiden, "Liara, child, I understand that you have a passion for the past, but don't let it blind you to what you can have in the here and now." She gave out a small chuckle, "After all, I'm pretty sure the Protheans will remain dead, even if you do miss your deadline." She gestured with her hands toward the door, "Now shoo, I have three patients waiting on me and a bondmate who wants me home on time for a change."

Liara's smile widened a little at the happy tone of the matriarch, "Of course, and thank you once again."

As the young Asari made her way out the door she began to make plans for the event, maybe Massia was right and she should try to live as much of a life as she could allow herself too.

Though first things first she supposed, she was going to have to go shopping.

S&S

"Fuck."

Eva winced as she raised herself to a sitting position, visibly flinching from the room's light level, "Well, I'm not dead, so I assume it worked."

As If responding to her question she watched as her information began scrawling across both her eyes, a slightly wild grin distorted her features, "Victory."

She practically leapt off the table, caught up in a wave of euphoria over her success, "Tess, you there?"

"Where else would I be?" To anyone else the sarcastic tone employed by the intelligence would be annoying, but to Eva it was just another sign of growth. Synthesized emotions were a major step for an intelligence, which was just another thing that had gone her way today. Tess though didn't share her opinion, "I also don't think you should be moving around yet, Ma'am. We don't know the side effects of the procedure."

The words of caution fell on deaf ears, as the human was already testing the other systems she had just integrated into herself, "No problems with the cranial interface?" A synthetic sigh emerged from a nearby speaker, "No, all systems worked as you predicted they would."

"Excellent." Eva clapped her hands together in excitement, this meant no more archaic coding. Instead her new upgrades would translate her thoughts into code, the broker's V.I which would have taken her weeks would now be a matter of days perhaps even hours. While the programs she had lost to the Thresher Maw would be at her disposal again in no time.

However, there were other uses for this technology as well, "Start up the drone interface test."

"Ma'am, you just woke up. Surely you should at least eat something, maybe have some actual sleep."

The human though just shook her head, "I need to know my limits, and I need to know them now. Otherwise I might end up pushing myself too hard in combat, which is something that I would prefer to avoid."

No reply came for several moments, until Tess robotically stated, "Releasing drones, five and six."

The drones themselves were one of the first things Dekrin had shared with her. They had apparently operated as his assistants back on Dekunna, and she had found their highly modifiable frame very promising.

She had since then outfitted a dozen of the small drones to her own specifications; a small accelerator rifle, and an adaptable omni projector which was currently maintaining a crimson barrier over the front of the drone.

It took the human a few seconds to think about how she wanted to do this, as it felt like she was reaching forward with a sense she had never had before. Until suddenly, something clicked, and she found her mind had linked to both of the drones. Unfortunately for Eva, and the drones she was linked with, she found herself collapsing to the floor. As her mind struggled, and failed to understand the different sensory streams it was now dealing with.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

Evalyn held up her hand for quiet, as she let a growl build in her chest to signify her annoyance at the situation. After giving her head a small shake she noticed several splatters of blood on the ground below her, and reaching a hand up to her face she found that her nose had begun to bleed. But, she had come this far though, and she wasn't prepared to end this experiment in total failure just because of some crimson liquid.

Concentrating on the drones she was linked with, she sent a thought which was quickly translated by her new augmentation into code they could understand. The pair slowly righted themselves before taking off into the air again, and once that was accomplished it was the humans turn to struggle to her feet.

With the drones flying in lazy circles about the room she began to, essentially, relearn how to walk with the added viewpoints, and while it was initially disorienting she quickly began to adapt to it. Eva had nearly asked for another pair to be released when a sudden pulse of pain through her skull caused her to cry out as she crumpled to her knees, she instinctively cut the link to the drones in the hope that it would alleviate her suffering.

As the pain began to dissipate she let out a sigh of relief, "Well, that could have gone smoother I suppose."

She took several deep breaths as she collected her thoughts, beginning to plan her next steps from her position on the floor, "Okay, the thought to machine interface is working fine." She staggered over to a nearby desk, drumming her fingers as she mused on her findings, "Maybe if I limit myself to commands already loaded into the drones I can reduce the mental strain."

"I did tell you that that was a likely outcome, Ma'am."

She waved a hand towards the speaker the A.I had used, "Yes, Tess, I'm aware. Sensory information itself isn't a massive problem, I think that I can probably handle a pair of drones comfortably for hours." She rubbed her jaw lightly, "Higher numbers will be substantially more limited though. Augmenting my own brain further might be a solution, but I am would prefer to avoid that."

Still though, for an alpha test it could have gone far worse, "Is there anything on the docket for today?"

"No, Ma'am, though I believe that you have some employee interviews later in the week, and Nassana Dantius had expressed a desire to meet with you when you are available."

The human groaned at that, "Joy," she took off deeper into her lair, "If anyone tries to contact me let me know, I'm going to get something to eat. Then I'm going to pass out for as long as my body lets me."

"Ma'am, you should look at your eye first."

Eva frowned, "My eye?" Holding up her omni she set it to mirror mode, a frown swiftly forming as she saw that her iris was faintly glowing crimson. Though as she watched it she could already notice a perceptible dimming of what she assumed was the nannites inside her still natural eye, "Well, that is unexpected. Any idea of any negative side effects of it?"

"None that my scans have shown, Ma'am, but I still advise extreme caution." Though the A.I had already calculated that her words would have a negligible effect on the human, she still felt the need to express her concern for her creator.

S&S

Nihlus slipped into the small safehouse that he had set up on the Citadel, he knew that Vasir was inside as the place's V.I had informed him of her entrance hours ago. Glancing around the room he spotted Vasir in the common area, and she was utterly surrounded by a horde of files that were scattered across the table before her.

Realizing that she was too distracted to notice him the Turian moved into the unit's small kitchen, fixing both of them a drink before heading back towards his significant other. The asari's lips quirked in a grateful smile at the glass placed in front of her, "Thanks, Love."

Nihlus just hummed in response, as he sprawled on the couch opposite from where Vasir was working, "What are you so focused on, Tela? It's not like you to do actual work."

The normally confident Spectre seemed was uncharacteristically nervous, her eyes twitched around the room, before Nihlus placed a taloned hand over her own, "Tela, what's wrong?"

Letting out a shaky breath the asari slowly met his gaze, "It was something that, Shep." She growled at her slip, "Tides! I mean it was something that Lady mentioned."

Collecting herself further Vasir slipped her hand out from under Nihlus', her body smoothly sliding from her seat as she began to prowl about the room, "Have you ever heard of an Ardat-Yakshi?"

Nihlus reclined back in his seat as he took a drink from the glass in his hand, "I might have heard Saren mention the term once, but he never elaborated on it. All that I remember is that the word predates the modern Asari dialect by two or three generations."

"As long as there have been asari, there have been Ardat-Yakshi." Tela's body shuddered slightly at the thought of the creatures, "They look like us, biologically they are undetectable until they reach a certain age," she shook her head in disgust, "At that point the only option is to either kill them, or imprison them."

Her partner tilted his head lightly at that, "But what exactly do they do? And what does any of this have to do with Lady?"

Vasir slowed to a halt, her back facing the Turian, "What I say here can't leave this room, do I have your word, Nihlus?"

Nihlus was actually somewhat hurt by the insinuation, "Of course you have my word." But it fled when Tela turned back around and he could see the relief shining in her eyes, "Thank you."

The asari lifted her hand up, manifesting a small biotic field which hovered slightly above her palm, "An Ardat is the ultimate predator of my species. Their biotics are more powerful, they tend to be more intelligent, and they mature faster than a regular Asari." With a sudden motion the field dissipated, "They have the ability to disrupt the biotics of an asari, and like us they can meld with others; but with different results." Tela's complexion was visibly paling as she talked more and more, and the moment she finished she grasped her glass still sitting on the table and began to gulp down the alcohol.

Nihlus frowned at both her reaction to the tale so far, as well as her last statement, "What results?"

Slamming down the glass Vasir took several deep breaths before she answered Nihlus' question, "They kill whomever they meld with." Nihlus sunk back into his seat, shocked that such a creature existed and he hadn't heard of it except in passing, "Spirits."

"It gets worse."

Nihlus opened his mouth to question how it could get worse, but Tela was already answering that question, "Every time an Ardat feeds, they become stronger, smarter, and their appetite grows as well." She slumped into the seat she had occupied earlier, "I've only seen one victim of an Ardat attack, it, it isn't something that you forget easily." She sighed as she corrected herself, "At least until I met Lady."

Nihlus sat straight up at that, "Wait? You mean that incident when she was fifteen was one of these Ardat things?"

The asari gave a small nod, "It makes sense given how she described the attack to me. Honestly she shouldn't have even survived the initial exposure at that age, let alone an Ardat that was probably sent to kill her."

"Then again, my bet is that they weren't counting on how hardened her mind must have been by that point already. Ardat's are naturally attracted to individuals who have undergone great hardships, it makes it harder for them to feed off of a person." The asari darkly added, "After all no hunter likes going after easy prey."

The Turian nodded a few times as he began to examine the files on the desk in front of him, "So you've been trying to what? Track this Ardat creature down?" At the suddenly wild eyed look of terror Nihlus realized that his guess was incorrect, even before Vasir's panicked voice screeched at him, "What?! No!"

"All that I'm trying to do is make sense of the situation." Tela grabbed one of the pads, and flicked it at her partner, "Which basically means I'm trying to figure out if it was all just a massive coincidence, or if Lady was targeted." Nihlus' mandibles flared at the last word of her sentence, "Targeted? You mean that someone controls these things?"

Tela hesitated before giving a small nod, "It isn't something that is openly spoken of, but some of the Ardat that are banished don't end up at their final destinations. It isn't all that hard to see how a group could see the use of something that can kill with their mind, especially given how so many aliens are willing to jump in bed with any Asari."

Nihlus nodded at that, "And what happens if this was ordered by a group, what's the play here Tela?"

Vasir drummed her fingers lightly, "I don't know, guess we'll have to see how this Anhur mission goes before I can answer that question."

"Fair enough, do you want any help?" At the Asari's silent negative the Turian pushed himself to his feet, "I'll leave you to it then. I might see if I can catch the Clawball game live, I swear this is the year my fantasy team will beat Lysia's." Vasir gave him a forced smile at his attempt to cheer her up, but the Turian could see that this was something she needed to do on her own.

S&S

"Ma'am, there is a message incoming for you from the Council."

The human simply hummed in response as she looked through, yet another, update that had been sent to her from one of her newer employees, it seemed that construction of the lower levels was going smoothly and that they should be up and running by the end of the week.

"It is ready for playback on your Omni, Ma'am." As her hud pinged with the new file she glanced up to ensure that her door was closed, before locking it down with a thought. Eva's eyes quickly flicked down to the connection icon which she resolutely tapped.

Sparatus' face spawned into view, and while his image was slightly distorted his voice came through clear, "Lady, it has come to our attention that a subject of interest will soon be in your area. We need you to plant a virus in her omni and so that our intelligence operatives can determine if one of our priority targets is nearby."

Eva gave a small nod, "Seems simple enough, who is the target and do we have a location?"

"Her name is Oriana Warren, a young human in what I believe your people call her 'teens.' Her Father is actually being interviewed by your company in a day or two I believe." As he lowered his talons from illustrating his mastery of the airquote, Evalyn had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, "Who exactly is the primary target?"

That Turian shook his head, "That is need to know right now. Tevos might have backed your induction, and Valern is willing to overlook anything that gets results, but I still don't consider you trustworthy." He moved to shut off the feed, but hesitated long enough to say one more thing, "Just remember it is far easier to lose someone's trust, then it is to gain it, Lady."

Once the call was ended the human let out a snort of amusement, "I wouldn't be too quick to claim the high ground, Councillor." Leaning back in her chair she asked her question to the air, "Tess, can you find out if Mr. Warren has left Terra Nova yet?"

A few moments passed before the reply came, "No, his flight is scheduled to leave tomorrow morning, Mrs. Warren and their daughter are scheduled to leave a few days after that." Eva drummed her artificial fingers on the metal desk before her, and a plan quickly formed in her mind, "Change Oriana's departure date to match with her Father's. Most shuttle companies have very explicit policies that what your ticket says is when you leave, and they are very stubborn in keeping to those policies. Oh, and make sure that you put a note in a file for a call reminder to be sent to both of them, wouldn't do for Oriana to miss her flight."

No reply came, though honestly one wasn't required as she trusted Tess to do her job. Pushing herself up from her chair the human turned and let herself appreciate the continual storm happening behind her. It was somewhat silly, but it reminded her of nights spent on Earth watching the massive storms slam into the storm shields. Her Grandfather used to curse that the crows that slipped into the compound before the storm hit were louder than the storm itself, but Eva always appreciated the creatures for being clever enough to subvert the human's inventions for their own uses.

Her reverie was interrupted by a sudden rapping on her door, and with an annoyed thought on her part the door swished open revealing a bashful human employee, "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but she insisted-" Suddenly the woman was yanked backwards as Nassana waltzed into her office, "That is quite enough, wage-slave, now why don't you run along while I catch up with my dear friend here."

Eva sighed and gave a terse nod to the recovering woman, before turning her attention back to Dantius, "What is it Nassana? I've already agreed to attend your party, so I fail to see what other business that we may have between us."

The business woman just smirked as she slid onto the couch that was tucked into one corner of her office, "Now that just isn't true, Hel. We have so many," a sly smirk pulled across her features, "Opportunities, to talk about." The human for her part was a wall on the outside, though in the comfort of her mind she wanted nothing more then to see what happened when you subjected an asari to a few million volts of electrical current, "I'm busy trying to make sure that my business is up and running, so if you don't mind, Dantius, I would like to get back to work."

The asari for her part just let out a small laugh, "Business is precisely what I was talking about, Helen." She made her way over to Eva's desk which was soon covered by a projection from Nassana's omni, the projection itself was a large floor layout that Eva' quickly identified as the Dantius estate, "There has been an unusual number of threats aimed at the Dantius clan leading up to this event, normally we would just hire some extra Blue Suns for this type of work but for some reason they got themselves involved in a gang war on Omega and don't have any men to spare." An annoyed huff escaped her lips, "And Eclipse won't even respond to my calls, as apparently most of the organization has been hired on the sly for some massive operation."

"Which leaves, you." That caused the human to glance at her in confusion, "Me? Nassana we only have a single production line right now, and even if I made Dekrin live down there we'd only be able to produce maybe ten units in time." Letting out an annoyed sigh Eva brought a palm up to the left side of her face, "And trust me when I say that the current models need more work before they are consumer ready."

Dantius flicked off the projection, though she was seemingly not going to take no for an answer, "I can have you fully operation in a day if you agree to my request," slipping down into a chair behind her the asari quirked her head at the other woman, "and one other addendum."

Eva though simply stood her ground, "I don't care what your addendum is. I'm not saying yes, Nassana."

"Please, we both know that you are dying to show off your product. Think of all those idle rich people walking around admiring your machines, why I'm practically doing you a favor."

The human sighed and sat down in her chair, "I'm not interested." Gesturing at the door that had just opened, she pointedly glanced at the asari, "I'm confident that you can show yourself out."

A crack though had appeared in the asari's facade, her voice losing its normal collected tone, "I need those mechs, Helen!" Eva's curiosity found itself being piqued, and a sly smile pulled at her lips, "Nassana, if I didn't know any better I would think you were worried about something."

Utilizing her new upgrades, she subtly sent a message to Tess, _'Find out if there are any out of the ordinary guests that are coming. Start with any surviving family members, Nassana didn't inherit most of her mother's wealth by being a nice girl.'_

She couldn't help but be amused but the asari's sudden shift in mood, and Eva was practically giddy when Tess' speedy reply appeared.

' _Nassana's older sister Malora is attending this event. She hasn't stepped foot on Illium for nearly a century following a murder charge, and is a member of Aria's inner circle. Nassana likely believes that she is coming to kill her on behalf of the T'Loak Consortium, as the Dantius clan has come into conflict with some of Aria's interests on Illium as of late.'_

Pale lips quirked into a full smile, "Or are you just worried about seeing your older sister after such a long time apart. I'll confess that I'm unfamiliar with such family matters, but I can see how that could be distressing." She moved around the desk, placing herself in the asari's blind spot, "I guess that I can see why this is such a troubling situation for you, so I'll do you a favor this time."

She placed both hands on the asari's shoulders, applying just enough pressure to ensure that Nassana knew that she was not playing around, "I'll give you a handful of top of the line mechs to compliment your Blue Suns, Dekrin will design them just for you." She could see the asari begin to open her mouth but an increase in pressure stopped that, "Now, what I want you to do is very simple. You will do whatever bureaucratic black magic you were going to do and get me my assembly lines, but before then you are going to leave my office without a word."

Release her shoulders Eva stepped back from the asari, and made her way back around her desk, "Understand that if you have any problems in the future, make an appointment like everyone else." As she settled into her chair she saw that Nassana had still not left her seat, earning a pointed glare from the human, "Don't you have something to do for me?"

She inwardly revelled in the glare the asari shot at her, enjoying the fact she had effectively forced the alien to revaluate how she could interfere with Eva's little sphere of influence. Outwardly she remained as stoic as ever, and once the asari had finally stormed out of her office she thumbed a nearby control to bring up the comm link with the main lab.

"Annoyed Query: What is it?"

She was becoming somewhat fond of the surly Elcor, he was good at his job and, despite the translator, was amusingly direct, "Another special order, four mech's designed to appease Nassana Dantius' paranoia. They'll need to be finished in time for that party I'm going to, so if you need to stop work on the other project I'll understand."

"Insulted reply: I will be the judge of what I can and can not do, human."

She simply shrugged and cut the audio, but instead of cutting the video she instead shifted the camera's focus to the project she was secretly funding. Smiling at the suit of armor that hung suspended from a mount in one corner of the room, drones buzzing around it like bees around a hive as they continued to refine the suit.

She was rather going to enjoy getting dressed up in something so nice.

S&S

Eva inserted the finished V.I program into the local server that the prototype was currently linked up with, and satisfied that everything was in order she shouted over her shoulder, "The files are uploading, Dekrin. I want you to start the test as soon as they are finished loading."

"Sarcastic response: Is there any other obvious task that you wish to point out that I should do." The human just shook her head, "You do realize that I pay you right?"

The large alien shifted his focus to the testing ground, "Distracting statement: Oh look, the test is beginning."

The human though paid little attention to the graceful movement of the machine down in the testing area, instead her attention was drawn to the man being led towards her by two of her security force, "Mr. Warren," She stepped towards him offering her disguised cybernetic to him, "Helen Danvers, I hope your flight was pleasant?"

The man took her hand with some hesitance, before replying, "To tell you the truth, Miss. Danvers, there was some miscommunication with the shuttle company." The man sighed absentmindedly rubbing his wedding band with his thumb, a tell that Eva noted for later, "Our daughter's ticket was somehow booked on my date, and they refused to alter her departure time." His eyes shifted away from her gaze, "I am aware that you wanted me to familiarize myself with the lab here today, but I can't just leave her unattended."

Eva for her part in this little production shot him a sympathetic smile, "I understand the situation is, less than ideal, but we've had to move up our release schedule and your input right now could be crucial." The man opened his mouth to object but was silenced by an upraised hand, "Why don't I have Oriana assist me until you're done? You told me when we spoke briefly about how bright she is, and one can never be too young to be collecting glowing references for one's resume."

She could already tell she had him, and gestured over to the Elcor who was utterly ignoring the exchange, "This is Dekrin, he's our chief mechanical engineer." When no response came she let out a huff, "Be polite, Dekrin, Mr. Warren will be the man helping to make sure your drones can actually survive live combat."

The Elcor shifted a slight degree to allow one eye to fixate on the human in question, "Solicited Response: Hello, Warren." The man blinked in confusion, "Actually my name is," but found his attention suddenly fixated on the test occurring in the sealed off area in front of the alien, "You don't plan on using that armor on them do you?"

Knowing that the man was successfully distracted Eva slipped out of the room. Letting the guards know to keep on eye on Mr. Warren, and to alert her of any movement on his part as he was not yet a contracted employee.

Making her way out of the room Tess was already one step ahead of her, _'The girl is in the waiting room, one of the sub-programmers is attempting to talk with her. From what I have leaned of human social queues she is annoying the girl.'_

Eva brushed a rogue strand of hair from her eye, "Well her school files did note some anti-social behavior, not that that hurt anyone if you asked me." And as she slipped into the breakroom she quickly understood why the younger girl was becoming annoyed.

Kathy, and she insisted on informing everyone that it was with a K, while an above average programmer didn't have enough spare brain power to fit in a thimble. Oriana had glanced towards Eva the moment she had entered the room, which had in turn drawn Kathy's attention, who flashed a bright smile towards her boss, "Hey, boss, this is the new guy's kid, isn't she just adorable?" The end statement ended with a squeal that was closing in on a frequency that was likely harmful to dogs, but Eva simply sighed as she shifted her gaze on to the woman, "Kathy, I uploaded several new revisions to the code I need you and Max to go through them." Several moments passed before Eva rubbed a pair of fingers into her temples, "Now, please."

The woman obviously realized that she had done something to annoy her superior, though Eva secretly doubted that she realized what it was, and stuttered her way out of the room. Only once they were alone did she turn to regard the girl sitting in the chair nearby.

She could already tell the girl was going to be rather striking, but given the way she was studiously trying to avoid looking at the older woman Eva was doubtful that Oriana would realize how attractive she actually was. Not that Eva was all that interested, her tastes had always run rather blue.

Did, they did, she irritably corrected herself. She was looking forward to getting off this planet and going someplace where nearly every single person didn't look like a more attractive version of her ex. Though she supposed ex was rather tame for, bitch that tried to rape your mind into a puddle of nothing.

But as she noticed a small glare being shot her way by the girl, likely annoyed by the scrutiny, she was reminded of herself. Well the her before Cora had managed to teach her how to have a little fun with people, she still didn't like them all that much but even she was forced to admit that back then she had some problems.

"You Father said you could come and work with me if you would like, Oriana, I daresay you might find it more interesting than hanging out here with Kathy." The girl gave her a glance that screamed, 'do you think I'm an idiot?' Which only caused Eva to smirk in response, "Well it is your choice, young lady. You can either stay in this waiting room with Kathy for company, or you can come with me and perhaps be productive with your time." She turned on her heel and began to walk away, a smirk pulling at her lips as she heard the girl scrambling to follow after her.

Her office's door opened as soon as she reached her inner waiting area, and she gestured for Oriana to step inside first. She was gratified to see the girl's wide eyed, slightly terrified, expression upon seeing the bolts of electricity pass almost directly in front of the viewing glass that lined the office. Though that quickly passed as the girl moved closer in order to get a better view of what was causing the display.

"You built this place over the colony's original power generation station?" Eva herself could only shrug in response, "To be honest with you I haven't looked into the history of the area, this property was owned by one of my partners so I simply took it over." The Spectre moved over to the small fridge built into the rear of the office and poured herself a glass of water, "Now why would you know that this is the colony's original power plant?"

The girl snickered at her term, which was understandable as it was something that only those who had spent a fair amount of time on Earth would use, but she quickly launched into an explanation, "Illium was part of the last wave of Asari colonization, the Republics afterward having agreed that to colonize any more worlds directly would be unfair to the 'lesser' races." She let the last statement out with the usual anger that most humans from deeper SA territory had towards aliens. Though it still earned a raised eyebrow from the older woman, causing the girl to duck her to avoid Eva's gaze. Letting out a sigh the Spectre spoke, "Oriana, I'm not your parents, but remember that here on this planet you are in the minority. Saying things like that out loud is likely to get you far more than a slap on the wrist like it would in human space."

The raven haired girl turned thoughtful at that, and it was likely a fact she had never considered. Eva could attest that it wasn't something you considered until you found yourself in a crowd of faces, and have not a single one look like your own. Despite what the Alliance liked to preach most aliens were not 'just like them,' their philosophy, history, even thought processes were often entirely different.

The aliens of the galaxy were not just a bunch of human's on the inside, even if that thought might help to calm the masses.

The Turians for as ruthless as they could be, were also quick to let bygones be bygones. In fact, the only reason the FCW wasn't a distant memory by this point, in her opinion, was because Humanity kept fucking bringing it up.

The brunette was jarred from her philosophizing once Oriana began to speak again, "During the sixth expansion the Republics had tried to increase cargo capacity by sending a smaller generation station with each colony, but that resulted in a bottlenecking of the major electrical grids after only a few decades. Normally you would simply have a new one shipped out, but this was happening right at the time of the Geth uprising so the entirety of C-Space was paralyzed."

That was actually news to Eva, "I didn't know the sixth wave coincided with the uprising." Oriana couldn't help but shoot a pleased smirk at the older woman, "Yep, the reason why the seventh expansion colonies are so far on the edge of Citadel space was that the Asari were worried about a potential synthetic invasion. They apparently thought that if they stretched out further there would be a greater chance that some Asari in the outer colonies could flee to safety."

The girl shook her head at the sheer stupidity of the plan, "That having been said, they decided with the seventh wave that there was no way they were going to have power issues like the sixth generation. So they contracted this military think-tank out of Serrice and that monster of a generation station is what they produced." Eva watched as the girl became increasingly animated as she discussed something as commonplace as a power plant, all the while blissfully unaware that her omni-tool was being compromised by the older woman.

Eva realized as she planted several hidden programs into the girl's device that she should be feeling at least a twinge of guilt for her actions, but she supposed that she had crossed that moral threshold some time ago.

Especially if her suspicions as to the girl's actual origins were correct, then the extra precautions she was taking would come in quite handy in the future.

S&S

Samuel had shown up a little over an hour later, slightly amused to find his daughter being put to work organizing a file system. While Evalyn had busied herself between answering questions from the girl, actual work, and sending a coded message to the Council informing them that their program had been planted.

"I see you managed to get her to work, I'm impressed." Crimson eyes flicked up at his comment and, one of Eva's hands motioned for him to take a seat while she closed down a file that she had been working on.

"How was working with Dekrin, he can be an ass but he's good at his job." Samuel actually let out a chuckle at that, "Yeah, he's…something. I don't think I've ever been insulted in a monotone that much before." Eva gave a nod of understanding, before sliding out a compartment of her desk and withdrawing a handful of paper forms.

As she placed them on her desk she noticed the look of surprise on the man's face, "I know paper is a bit old fashioned, but I always prefer to have a physical backup. We will of course be filing an electronic copy of your contract as well."

She slid the forms, along with a pen, across to the man who began to peruse through them. Glancing just out the door to where Oriana had set up shop she noticed that the girl was watching them with some interest, only to get back to work once she realized she had been caught gawking.

"When will your wife be joining you here? I believe you mentioned that she works for ExoGeni in some capacity."

"She'll be joining us in a couple of days. Once she's here she will be overseeing ExoGeni's research branch here in Nos Astra, apparently they don't process their data on site like some of the other Corporations." He placed the pen down and slid the contract back to his new employer, "That should be everything, right? I'd like to take Ori home and get settled, as much as I enjoyed that distraction earlier I am bushed."

She rose as he did, keeping pace with him until they reached the door, "Well I appreciate your help today, especially in light of how you weren't planning on having Oriana along with you. Though if she is ever looking for part-time work we'd love to have her here, she's a rather intelligent young lady. She must get it from her parents."

The girl's father beamed at that, though she wasn't surprised with his next statement, "I appreciate the compliment, Miss Danvers, but to tell the truth we adopted Ori when she was just a baby."

The spectre shook her head at that, "Don't sell nurture short, plenty of intelligent people have had dumb children." Her attention was caught by a notification that Dekrin needed her down in the labs now that his 'minion' had left, "Dekrin is making a fuss now that you've left, so I should go and handle that."

She extended a hand, which Samuel quickly took, "I look forward to working with you, Mr. Warren," before shifting her gaze to Oriana and shaking the girl's hand as well, "And I hope to see you again as well, Oriana."

The pair quickly said their goodbyes, and once they were out of sight Eva couldn't help but smirk, "Tess, I want you to do a test of Oriana's DNA against Henry Lawson's. I think I know what Sparatus is planning, and I don't plan to be caught unprepared."

"And what would that be, Ma'am."

"Destiny."

S&S

"Yes, yes, Dekrin, I understand that the armor isn't fully completed. I was simply asking if it was operational." As the Elcor began to drone out a reply into her comm she let out a huff, "Dekrin, I'm heading inside right now so we'll talk about this later, just go home. No! I'm not paying you overtime." She hung up on the alien with a huff, and handed off her jacket to one of the salarian's working the door.

From there she was led into through several corridors by one of the Dantius servants, the human couldn't help but roll her eyes at the sheer amount of wealth being flaunted. The Shepard's weren't what one thought of when it came to wealth, though they were comfortably in the upper class, as they had always emphasized power over monetary gain.

The Shepard compound was actually the largest single expenditure of the family in any given year, and that was maintained due to some kind of genetic need to tell mother nature to go fuck herself.

As she was lead into a large hall packed with people she had to suppress a shudder at the sheer amount of asari present, she had known that there would be a large amount of them but it was different seeing them in person. Her eyes quickly glanced around for an isolated area to hide herself but a familiar voice called out before she could flee, "Hel! I'm so glad that you could make it."

A sigh escaped her lips as she turned to face the events host, noting that one of the units they had delivered this morning was trailing behind the business mogul, "Nassana, I hope you are happy with the units."

Blue lips quirked into a satisfied smirk, "More than satisfied, dear, but we don't have to talk business tonight. This is after all a party." She extended a glass filled with some kind of asari wine to the human, which Eva took a light sip of to be polite. Of course the stuff was so sugary she had to supress a grimace, "It is very sweet."

"Nasanna, you should know better than to waste such fine drink on a human. The poor things still think that liquor shouldn't be an enjoyable experience." Eva turned her head to regard to newcomer, and from the familial resemblance alone was rather confident in their identity, "You must be Malora, I'm certain that your glad that Illium has a statute of limitation on murder otherwise you'd never have been able to come back home now would you?"

Brushing roughly past the stunned matron the human poured the liquid into a nearby plant, before setting the glass on one of the passing serving trays. She called over her shoulder as she waltzed away, "Have fun catching up you two."

Recalling the plans Nassana had shown her a few days prior she made her way to an isolated area, but her footsteps slowed when she could hear a voice seemingly talking to themselves up ahead, "You can do this Liara, just go down and mingle. Nothing has to go wrong, everything will be fine and you will have some fun."

Eva could tell the speaker was from Thessia, their accents being far more proper than the colonies, but she couldn't deny that she was at least somewhat curious as to what was causing so much distress.

Her low heels announced her presence before she was visible, and as she turned the corner she found the asari already looking in her direction. The maiden simultaneously looking both flustered and annoyed at her presence, "Can I help you?"

Eva batted aside the rogue thought of how attractive the maiden was, especially the rather low cut dress, and instead gave a small shake of her head, "I was simply trying to escape the crowds, and when I heard you talking to yourself I was worried that something was wrong."

The maiden's cheeks flushed a darker shade, "So you heard that," before she buried her head in her hands, "How embarrassing." Evalyn simply tilted her head at the display, "I wouldn't call it embarrassing, I'm not a fan of these type of events myself."

Recovering slightly the Asari stood and gave a slight bow of her head to the human, "Liara T'Soni, and whom might you be?" Eva blinked a few times at the announcement, the T'Soni's were an old and very traditional family. That the sole heir would be attending a party held by a Dantius was very unusual.

Giving the corresponding bow, which consisted of an annoyingly precise arm and waist movement, the human responded, "Helen Danvers."

Liara's eyes seemed to light up at that, "You're the one who created that thing that Matron Dantius is insisting on showing off." At the nod from the human the asari's face went very serious, "The head design you used was a mistake based on the armor you used for the rest of the body. I assume you used the statues from the temple of Athame as a base, but the heads had to be redone and the sculptor didn't know what they were doing."

Eva blinked a few times in confusion before she found her voice, "Your criticizing the aesthetics that I chose?" The Maiden's, far too, blue eyes blinked at her several times, before her cheeks flushed again, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you. It was simply that I noticed the issue and thought that in the future you might want to rectify the problem."

Liara shot her a small smile, "I know that sometimes it can be hard dealing with other cultures, I mean my studies are all based on the Protheans."

"Yes, well perhaps if you were more diligent then your last academic paper wouldn't have had such glaring errors in it." The human sighed inwardly, letting her pride get the best of her was a mistake. Though she did enjoy the fire that had sprung up in those eyes.

"What?" Liara's voice was low, and if Eva hadn't seen her break down from embarrassment twice already it might have been somewhat threatening. So Eva just smirked at the maiden's reaction, "Your last published work, the one that argued that Prothean technology pointed to them having ascended past the need for war. I don't know what tech you were looking at, but I've dealt with Prothean security systems, working security systems mind you, and those safeguards were not made by a race that was past the need for violence."

Eva almost reacted violently when Liara suddenly grasped her hand, and pulled her over to where she had been sitting originally. Finding herself practically shoved on to the bench she found herself looking up at the asari who now had her omni-tool open, "Liara T'Soni, opening a log for interviewing a human by the name of Helen Danvers. Maiden Danvers claims knowledge of working Prothean systems, and has also implied that several faults exist within my last published article."

Eva having now recovered from the sudden, and odd, turn of events attempted to clarify the situation, "Are you interviewing me?'

Those, arresting, blue eyes darted to her, "I'm asking the questions here."

She wasn't sure how long their little Q&A session went, as the pair quickly got lost in a series of small but heated exchanges that were more based on gut feelings than any real evidence about the precursor species.

It was in the middle of one of these exchanges that Eva realized something was wrong, and held her hand up for silence. Liara shot her an annoyed glare while hissing at the human, "What?"

"Do you hear that?" Both of them strained to hear anything, before finally Liara shook her head, "No I don't hear anything, what am I supposed to be hearing?"

Eva slid from the bench, "That's the point, I can't hear the party anymore."

An clapping noise came from around the corner as a trio armed asari blocked off the exit of their little refuge, "She is smarter than she looks." Raising a hand to her head the asari spoke into what must be a mic built into her suit, "Boss, we've got Nassana's human and the T'Soni, your orders?"

A smirk pulled at her features as she began to reach for her gun, "Understood." The leader shot a glance at one of her cronies, "Take the girl to the hall, the boss figures we can shake her Mother down for a ransom." Raising the gun to point at Eva's head the asari clicked her tongue at her, "Too bad no one ever taught you manners, human. Otherwise you might have made it through the night."

Eva for her part just smirked, "I think I'll be fine, after all I'm not the one with a worthless gun."

She snapped into action, having sabotaged the leader's gun the moment she knew which weapon was being drawn, smashing her artificial fist into the alien's unprotected skull, "This is why you wear a helmet!"

"Bitch!" Eva's gaze snapped up to see the lackey who hadn't been tasked with grabbing Liara was levelling their weapon at her. In response Eva activated the kinetic powered battery in her right shoulder, and thrust forward her artificial arm unleashing an overload on the unsuspecting asari.

Normally the ability would be ineffective against an unshielded target as armor systems were capable of dissipating such electrical charges easily. However, when the target isn't even in armor it was similar to the electrical discharge weapons C-Sec used to pacify people.

The asari violently twitched as the spectre closed the ground between them, Evalyn quickly ripped the weapon out of her opponent's hands with her left hand while knocking the alien out with another right hook.

Spinning she brought the rifle to bear on the third target, only to find them slumped against a wall as Liara, who was surrounded by an almost violent biotic field, stood unmoving above them. The maiden's twitching hands was the only part of her body that was moving, and her eyes had shifted into a noir state as she looked down at the asari lying helpless on the ground.

"Liara?" Frowning Eva stepped closer, and shifting the rifle into a one handed grip in her right she yanked on the maiden's hand with her left, "Liara, we have to go." The maiden sprang the life the moment their hands touched, and she slammed her lips on to the human's. Which Eva didn't exactly fight against, which probably said something about her she supposed, but the maiden quickly let out a gasp of pain as Eva's implant sent a nasty bit of biofeedback at her attempt to initiate a meld.

Liara's chest heaved rapidly as she stumbled backwards, her eyes quickly returning to their normal state, "Goddammit, Blue, just keep your libido in check until I get us out of here.". The head of the blue in question snapped up to look at Eva, and finding the human standing only a few feet from a whisper escaped from her lips, "You're alright?" Which only earned a confused look from the human, "Of course I am." Evalyn made her way over to a wall panel, and after a few attempts from the hidden panel she was looking for, "Nassana made the mistake of showing me the building's plans, not a great plan when dealing with someone who has an eidetic memory."

After a few moments she had hacked the door, revealing small elevator that would take them to the roof. The sound of gunfire began to echo from the hall, causing Eva to grin, "Looks like the other units activated, they'll make short work of Malora's people." Extending a hand to Liara the human gave her a small smile, "Now you can come with me, or you can wait until the authorities arrive and have to explain why the T'Soni heir was slumming with the colonials."

Taking her hand Liara slipped into the lift first, which quickly began to rocket them skywards. "You mentioned other units, I only ever saw the one that was following Nassana."

The human smirked, "Kind of the point, the others were disguised as statues throughout the hall. The one following Nassana around was just the original prototype."

Once they had gotten high enough that she had a signal Eva sent a message to her A.I, "Tess, I'm going to need a car sent to the top of the Dantius estate. Make sure that it is a two seater, not a bike."

"Tess? Your assistant is working this late?" Eva couldn't help but smile at that, "Yes, she's very devoted."

Before they hit the roof a message popped up, _'Ma'am, I've spotted two hostiles on the roof with an appropriated satellite, marking them on your display._ ' As two vague forms formed in front of her eyes the human smirked and readied her rifle, "Wait for me to check the roof first, Liara."

The doors opening cut off Liara's response as the human had already shot though the opening, a staccato of weapons fire filled the air and the maiden let out an involuntary shriek before flushing with embarrassment, "Shiala would never let me live this down."

"Roof's clear!"

The maiden slipped through the door to and blanched slightly when she saw one asari slumped against a wall, a trail of purple blood on the wall behind her. The human for her part seemed to consider the situation normal and was busy fighting with the rifle, "Useless piece of crap." With an annoyed huff the rifle was tossed to the floor, simply shrugging when the maiden glanced at her in confusion, "The heatsink failed, I had to toss the other asari off the roof. My head is still fucking spinning from the feedback."

Before the asari could question that statement further a car settled down on a nearby landing pad, and the pair dashed to the safety of the vehicle in case reinforcements were inbound. Eva reached forward and began to pilot the vehicle, she knew that Tess could handle it but she needed the distraction if she was being honest.

"Where are you staying, Liara, I'll drop you off there." The maiden was silent for longer than Eva was comfortable, and when she turned her head to check on the alien she found the maiden's lips on her own again.

Pulling back the human simply husked out a single instruction, "You can fuck my body, but you try and fuck with my mind and this night is going to be over really fast."

She had honestly expected some argument from the maiden, especially after what had happened earlier but instead Liara pushed her lips against her own before replying, "Deal."

S&S

Miranda let out a groan of annoyance as she paced the warehouse their ship was stashed in, "Mom, I'm telling you that there is no way Evalyn is in danger. The Illium police cleared the scene hours ago and do you really think that rabble could have killed a Spectre?"

In all likelihood the blonde had probably escaped before the police even arrived, and she would understandably wish to avoid complications with any police organization. Even one as blatantly corrupt as Nos Astra's force.

Still Miranda didn't like this one bit. The whole plan had gone to shit the moment that Ori showed up on Illium days ahead of schedule, and that wasn't getting into the fact that somehow Evalyn was right in the middle of this mess. Somehow she knew the bitch was involved in Ori's presence here, but she had no proof and no idea what the blonde's motivation could be.

She scowled at the thought of the other woman, but pushed it aside as she contacted Hannah again, "Where the hell are you? We both know that staying here any longer puts Ori at even greater risk and I won't let your obsession with Eva lead my Father right to her!"

Silence reined on the line for a few moments before her mother replied, "I'm sorry, Miranda, you're right. Let me check out just one more lead, while I'm doing that why don't you move the ship to rendezvous C and I'll meet you there."

A sigh of relief emerged from the raven haired woman, but her reply was cut off as a harsh laugh came from behind her.

She spun but found herself being thrown backwards as an armored fist slammed into her torso, her body crying out in pain as it slammed against a storage container behind her. She took several wheezing breaths as she tried to bring oxygen back into her body, but before she could get back to her feet she found herself being hauled into the air.

Her face was reflected back at her by an impersonal mask, which tilted almost imperceptibly and she had a deep suspicion that she was being judged in that moment by the other figure.

"So you're my replacement, I somehow expected more than just a pair of tits and long legs."

Miranda found herself skidding across the floor until she impacted against another container in the warehouse. She pushed herself on to her unsteady feet, and found that her assailant was slowly approaching her.

"Lets see what wins shall we? Nature or Nurture."

S&S

Credit Song: Red Like Roses performed by Casey Lee Williams

Just a final message to my guest reviewer, I thank you for your review. You have a point about my comma slippage, and I'll try to monitor myself a bit better in the future. I tried to take extra care in this chapter, so I'd appreciate it if you let me know if you noticed an improvement.

That being said, I disagree with you on some points. Such as the subplot statement, I'm not certain if you mean the flashbacks or the Hannah Shepard subplot. As you don't say in your review I'll just assume that you mean Hannah's. Maybe I didn't pull it off, but regardless I felt I had left plenty of hints as to where that particular plot was going.

I really don't know what you meant by word choice, as you didn't give me an example of where my word choice didn't compliment my style. Quite frankly I'm both the writer, and editor of this work. I don't have a second pair of eyes looking over this story before I publish a chapter, so if you do want me to improve please give me some examples.

As to your second review, maybe the first S&S chapter was more grammatically correct. It is also a poorly written piece of shit, and as the author of it I think it is my right to make such a claim. I didn't approve your second review as I don't want to pad out my review score, but that doesn't mean I didn't consider it.

I won't lie, I like having the numbers next to my story go up, but only when I've earned them. Also, to everyone else, I don't want a bunch of reviews telling me that the story is great and all that because of this. I try to respond to all reviews, well those that require responses, and this is the only way I could do so.


	9. A Family Affair

I wasn't going to leave you guys on a cliff hanger like that, not even I'm that cruel.

I also altered a few of Liara's scenes from the last chapter, not a huge difference but just some slight tweaks.

Couple of announcements to make.

First is that I'm going to be writing a Dragon Age story on the side. I'm not writing this so that you guys all go and read it, I'm letting you guys know because I'm going to put out a chapter of it every five chapters of this fic starting after chapter 10 (then chapter 15, 20, etc.). The premise is twofold there, as I am a massive DA nut (as some of you are aware), and two it will give me some distance from S&S once in a while which can be good.

I fully admit that I burned out during chapter 7 and the quality of my writing took a dip, I'd like to think I was back in form for chapter 8.

Second, you are no longer going to have, as many, random tangents in the story that aren't plot relevant. I'm going to be starting up a side story fic where I'm going to dump all my one-shots and short stories. Day in the life of Arcturus' A.I? Into the side story fic! Cora goes on a family vacation from hell? Into the side story fic!

This isn't to say they will be unimportant, or that they will never come up, but I'm using the Jim Butcher method here. Essentially what that means is you refer to events, even important ones, that happened 'offscreen' because we aren't following these characters every single day of their lives. Stuff happens, people get together, people break up, and the world continues to spin just because the audience isn't tuned in at the moment.

Fun fact I always listen to music when I'm writing, but for some reason I just can't listen to Johnny Cash. I like Cash quite a bit for getting into a mournful mood, but I always find myself focussing exclusively on the music rather than my own writing process.

Song Themes:

Evalyn's Rage: I'm the One performed by Casey Lee Williams and Jess Williams

S&S

 _Another series of attacks have rocked the U.K today. The attacks themselves consisted of several explosive devices detonating at augmentation clinics across Great Britain itself, with the largest such detonation occurring in London where the blast is estimated to have killed thirty people; including eight full time staff at the clinic itself, and one Officer of the London Police._

 _While there yet to be a statement of responsibility issued a member of the British Intelligence community stated anonymously that this was most likely the work of the organization known only as 'Orthus.' The organization came to light only last year and has been linked to nearly twenty different attacks worldwide since then._

 _Prime Minister Harrison issued a statement earlier today urging calm from British citizens as the attacks are investigated, while also expressing her condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the bombings. Opposition members in Parliament have claimed that the current government is being 'soft' on their stance on terrorism, and later today opposition leader Mathew Hewett will be giving his own press conference._

 _BBC, 2063_

S&S

' _Ma'am, there is an encrypted transmission for you from the Citadel.'_

Eva blearily slipped out from the sheets that were tangled around her and Liara, padding away to a distant corner of her quarters to ensure privacy. Content that the door she slid shut behind her was sufficient isolation she accepted the incoming hail, "Lady, here."

Instead of one of the Councillors' voices though, it was instead Saren's gravelly tone that answered her, "We've confirmed the presence of the primary target. She's at the coordinates being uploaded with this transmission, you are to proceed to the area and eliminate all hostiles. Understood?'

She knew that Saren was likely trying to get her killed with this assignment, but if he was willing to give her what she wanted free of charge then let him think he had the upper hand, "Understood."

S&S

The warehouse that the pair stood in was a crowded affair, between the shipping containers, construction materials, and the small Cerberus brand transport there were only a few open spaces within which to freely operate. The rest of the building was a maze of small corridors lined on either side by the large general purpose containers, most of which were empty but not all.

Of course that wasn't what had her attention at this time, it was the woman firmly in her grip.

"So you're my replacement, I somehow expected more than just a pair of tits and long legs." A grin formed on her lips at the anger that flared within the detestably perfect looking woman.

Eva took firmly after their Mother, and while Hannah wasn't unattractive they both had a very strong faces. Evalyn herself had never been a vain person, but she couldn't deny that some part of her felt that life was being unnecessarily cruel when this piece of shit was perfect while she was just a bunch of scars and metal.

Wrenching her arm at full strength she threw the operative at the furthest bulkhead, enjoying the dull metallic sound that echoed in the dark chamber as the woman struck the intended target.

Eva couldn't help but grin under her helmet, the new suit, while not fully complete, was performing flawlessly. She had Dekrin design it with her new upgrades in mind, which enabled her to essentially link herself with the suit. Rather than having the suit playing catch up to her own movements, the suit itself responded to her at the same time as her own body. It also allowed her to intuitively know even minute details of the suit's functions, from what her shielding was at, to how strained the suit's reactor was, even how much fuel was in the emergency thrusters built into the frame.

The armor was, for all intents and purposes, a part of her in the same manner that her artificial limbs were a part of her.

It was an exhilarating, and combined with the sex earlier, plus her getting to take out her frustrations on Miranda right now, she could honestly say that she was in a damn good mood.

"Let's see what wins shall we? Nature or Nurture."

Normally she would have just taken the unsuspecting terrorist out and just called it a day, but this was personal. This was the woman who had essentially been used as her replacement, and so she had to admit there was a certain degree of sadistic satisfaction to be gained by pummeling that perfect face.

That and she wanted to send Hannah a message.

Both she and Eva had calculated that the older woman would attempt to flee at the first chance she had, but it turned out that the operative had a spine under that ridiculous outfit that neither of them had accounted for. And so it was Eva's turn to be surprised as a corona of energy surrounded the other woman, before the Spectre found herself being violently thrust upwards before suddenly, and just as violently, being sent in the opposite direction to crash into the ground.

She could hear Miranda's laugh, "That armor isn't much good when you aren't getting in a cheap shot is it?"

Evalyn let out a low growl in response, which quickly morphed into a grim laugh as she saw the drones she had brought along slipping into position behind her opponent, "Didn't Mother teach you lesson number one?"

At the look of confusion on the raven haired woman's face Eva just let out an even harder laugh, "Never fight fair!" Taking that as a signal the Tess controlled drones all opened fire, causing both Miranda's barrier to flare, and for her to exclaim in anger, "Fuck!"

The distraction also resulted in the Eva being able to overcome the weakened biotic field with her own biotics, though Miranda had already fled deeper into the warehouse before she was on her feet. She paused briefly to check on one of her drones that was prone on the ground having been directed to chase after the operative, its systems still attempting to reboot after it had been hit by an overload from the terrorist.

' _Tess, split your operational drones up, and work your way across this structure. Once unit 3 is up send it to link up with me.'_ Sending a pulse through her suit she signalled for her rifle, which was slid up her left shoulder by the manipulator system that was built into the armor in order to keep her hands free while swapping weapons.

' _Are you sure she wouldn't just flee, Ma'am? It seems like she is at a strategic disadvantage.'_

The spectre knew that logically the A.I was right, but she also knew what rage did to your thought processes. After all, it was why she was here tonight.

She advanced slowly through the maze of containers, annoyed at the fact that whatever was lining these containers were throwing off her thermal scans. Forcing her to rely almost entirely on visual targeting alone, as the intermittent but powerful lighting inside the warehouse made night vision unreliable.

Instinct and nothing else saved her from being bludgeoned by the cargo container that hurtled inches from her dodging form, small jets built into her suit flaring to life instinctually to move her out of the collision zone, as her own reply of a wide area incinerate was likewise dodged when the other woman threw herself skyward using her biotics. Though Evalyn doubted the woman expected the missile launcher still on the spectre's back to suddenly fire a missile that tracked towards her, thanks to her new cybernetics keeping all of her gear in sync simultaneously, "These new upgrades are divine."

The Cerberus operative in an effort to protect herself biotically wrenched one of Shepard's drones, and sent it flying on an intercept course into the missile. A feat which Eva had to admit was impressive, even without factoring in that it had all been done while the woman was in the air. Even still the force of the blast sent the woman sailing even further away, though Eva doubted she could be so lucky as to have the woman actually be taken out in so easy of a manner.

Summoning the drones to form up on her, including the recently reactivated third drone, the spectre swiftly made her way in the direction that the operative had fallen, using both her own eyes, and the lenses provided by the drones, to keep an eye on all of her surroundings.

Eventually they reached the edge of the warehouse, and Eva frowned as her head scanned the area and found no trace of her raven haired opponent.

Or at least she thought she had, as the other woman slammed into the Spectre using a biotic charge. The sheer kinetic force of the impact causing Eva's body to crash through the bulkhead and land on the open ground surrounding the structure. Glancing up she saw both Miranda and the drones approaching her, the woman's barrier was flickering intermittently as the drones fired at her but their weapons weren't strong enough to penetrate the woman's barrier.

Eva also realized that Miranda had armed herself instantly recognizing the oversized weapon as a M-300 Claymore, a Krogan designed weapon of human manufacture, and the brunette reacted by shouting her next command both out loud and through her cybernetic link, " _Shield!"_

It became a race between Miranda's trigger finger, and the omni-emitters built into her drones to link up together. The crimson red barrier snapped in place just in time to absorb the assault, though Miranda swiftly adjusted her aim, as she pumped another heat sink into the weapon, to target the drones instead of the manufactured barrier.

One drone was shattered by the blast, while another was clipped, but it was just this move though that Eva had anticipated. The Spectre had begun dashing the moment Miranda had shifted her aim and she was already on top of the older woman before she could pump another heat sink into place following her last shot.

Throwing the weapon aside Miranda lashed out with a biotic strike, which instead of dodging Eva let impact against the plating of her suit, which did warp under the blow, while her right knee slammed into the woman's stomach knocking the air from Miranda's lungs.

The operative attempted another overly powerful, but clumsy, attack as she lashed out with a biotic enhanced kick in return, only to be knocked to the ground as Evalyn's own biotics were used to wrench her other foot out of position.

"All that power, and you can't use an ounce of it intelligently. Let's see how you fare when it is taken from you?" Eva bent down and clenched her right hand around the woman's neck, the terrorist's biotics flickered and died as her gauntlet's built in dampning field disrupted the bio-electric field her biotics relied upon.

Lifting the woman to once again look into the reflective visor Eva's distorted voice emerged from the helmet once again, "It's almost a pity you didn't put up a better fight, otherwise I might have a sense of satisfaction from this."

Miranda's only response was to spit a glob of blood on to the featureless helmet of the other woman, but it only caused a low chuckle from the spectre, "You can't fight, but at least you have spirit."

Before she could finish off the other woman her remaining duo of drones suddenly collapsed to the ground, causing Shepard to glance about in confusion, "What?!"

Then a voice came in, hijacking the signal that Tess used, "Stand down, Eva."

All other thoughts were stuck from her mind at the sound of Hannah Shepard's voice. Moments ticked by as for the first time that night Eva found herself unsure of what to do, or say, in the face of being confronted by her Mother's voice directly for the first time since she was just a child.

She recovered quickly though, and as her grip tightened on her 'sister's' throat she growled out a response, "Or you'll do what, Mother?"

S&S

The sheer hatred that her daughter managed to convey in those simple words was almost staggering to the older woman, "Eva, just let Miranda go. Then we can talk, just the two of us."

A cold laugh came over the comm, "Talk? You think that this is what? Some misguided attempt to draw you back into my life." The faint sound of an electrical discharge sounded before Miranda's scream quickly replaced it, "Behave, Miri, the blood relations are talking. Now why don't you be a good girl and be quiet, or I'll have to take extreme measures."

Hannah's breath quickened at the implication, while she fully knew that Eva was capable of killing a person she had never really considered her capable of murder, "Don't hurt her, Evalyn!"

That same mirthless laugh emerged from the broken woman that was her biological child, "Too bad you weren't this protective of me all those years ago. Though I don't see why you are so attached to this one. Surely you have enough time to find another replacement, you aren't that old after all and the human lifespan just keeps getting longer."

Hannah's own mind steeled as she realized that Eva was fully willing to go through with her threat, that somehow her daughter was willing to murder in cold blood simply to spite her, "Eva, if you don't let Miranda go then you'll force my hand." She took a steadying breath to make sure that there was no room for doubt that she would go through with her next statement, "You know where I am by this point, or at least you should if you are half as good as they claim. I would prefer not to bloody my hands tonight with who you left behind in your quarters, but I won't let you kill Miranda either."

A scoff came from Eva, "Liara? I mean she was a great lay, but I think you are underestimating just how much I want to hurt you. How much I want to take something from you that you can never get back. After all you have taken so much from me, it's about time that I start balancing the scales."

Hannah let out a ragged breath, was this what all her efforts had been for? Her attempts to protect the girl only for them to all backfire, to have tried to sacrifice herself for the child only to end up doing the reverse.

Sending a quick image of what she was looking at to the younger woman Hannah let out a sigh, she knew that all of this was her fault and now both her children were suffering because of her mistakes. That didn't mean though that she was going to let one of them murder the other though, "I wasn't talking about the organic, Eva, I was talking about the person here that you actually care about."

She had disabled the A.I's connections to the rest of the facility shortly after she arrived, but it was very much aware of what was happening around it. Helplessly watching, and waiting on the decision of her creator.

"Don't you fucking touch her!"

"Then let Miranda go."

Another bout of shrieks from Miranda filled the air before they went suddenly silent, Hannah was stunned by the sudden turn of events before Evalyn's voice returned, "She's unconscious, you have an hour to get back here before I finish her off. I suggest you hurry, wouldn't want to lose the daughter you chose to raise to a traffic jam."

Hannah recognized the tone in the girl's voice, it was the same tone that John used to use when he wasn't bluffing. It was funny the things that people just seemed to inherit from their parents, Hannah could only curse the sheer amount of herself that she could see in Eva. A better person wouldn't have allowed their child to follow them down the same bloody path, but she supposed that she had never been a good person.

Stepping out into the quarters main area she found herself facing the asari, she had never approved of Evalyn's tastes in partners and she was disappointed to see that the girl hadn't learned her lesson from the last time.

"You should stay away from her, Asari."

To the credit of the maiden she held her ground, and the faint shimmer of a biotic barrier showed that she was prepared for a less than pleasant confrontation, "The mysterious stranger offering advice to the maiden? I suppose next you'll be telling me that I'll just get hurt if I remain close to her."

"No, but she will."

S&S

Miranda's alive, for now, body was carelessly tossed inside a nearby shipping container. Though not before Eva had ripped through the safeguards on the woman's omni-tool and ripped the entirety of the data contained on it.

"You had best hope that Hannah shows up for you, I won't lose any sleep over killing you and that is a promise."

That had been how she had left it, locking the container behind her she had gotten to work in preparing for her Mother's arrival.

Which was what led her to the current situation of hiding in the dark despite there being little reason to do so this early into her deadline. But against Hannah she wasn't going to abandon a single advantage that she could gain. As such she had left as many proximity explosives as she had on her person about the area, but the warehouse was still a mess of pathways cutting through the various containers and hallways, even after her scuffle with Miranda, so there were a lot of blind spots in her coverage. Her drones were also stashed nearby, though their usefulness was limited given that she was down to two of them. Even still they might prove themselves in the end.

A trump card was always useful after all.

She had stashed Miranda's claymore nearby as well, having hacked through the biometrics on the weapon, as a 'just in case' weapon.

Speaking of the other woman the spectre checked the feed she had of the older woman, the fact that all the containers had interior cameras was not something she wanted to dwell on right now. A quick check confirmed that the older woman's vital signs were still stable, despite the less than gentle method Eva had used to knock her unconscious, but more importantly that she was still unconscious.

If she was being honest there were little true hard feelings between her and her 'Sister.' Truthfully she could logically appreciate the fact that Miranda had little choice in the matter that Hannah had abandoned her first child, but that still didn't' make Eva feel any less supplanted by the other woman, and it didn't make her feel any less angry about it.

It also didn't help that she was angry about the fact that she was angry.

She let out an uneven breath, this close to finally confronting the woman who had abandoned her and she could scarcely contain the rage that bubbled under the surface. She had always had a temper, which had only been exacerbated following Akuze, but this was hitting a level she was unfamiliar with. In the end she found the only way to deal with it was to simply ride the wave of emotion, and try to shape it, mold it into a means with which to hone her mind.

Because this wasn't some full of himself marine with no combat skills, this was Hannah Shepard. A woman who had more experience in combat than most humans experienced in their lifetimes, and whose intellect Evalyn had inherited.

Along with her temper, which was certain to be in effect after what she had done to her 'daughter.'

Her suit's display lit up with a sudden warning, but rather than one of her proximity traps going off this was her backup V.I system forwarding a call from the Citadel. Frowning she answered the hail, "Lady here."

Fully expecting it to be Saren again the sound of Tevos' smooth voice surprised her, "Lady, we were just made aware of the orders you were sent earlier by Spectre Arterius. They are not sanctioned orders, and you are to disregard them. Those two targets are more useful alive than they are dead."

Eva's jaw clenched tightly as she exerted a large degree of effort to keep her voice even, "I acknowledge receipt of your message."

A murmur of confusion came from the other side of the conversation, which led Eva to believe the whole Council was likely involved in this call, even if Tevos was the one doing the talking, "What do you mean by that, Lady?"

"It means I heard you, and I am planning on ignoring your request."

Sparatus' voice thundered over the call, "Are you ignoring a direct or-"

"I don't work for any of you, Councillor, which you are well aware of. Now if you don't mind, I have a family reunion to prepare for."

Ending the call, she glanced down once again at the other woman to ensure there was no change in her status. Her hand moved of its own accord after she glanced at the remaining time on her display, and she pulled her pistol out of its hip holster in preparation for having to deal with Miranda

"Running out of time, Mother."

S&S

Hannah slipped though the warehouse like a ghost, her armor while lacking the cloaking tech that Leng's possessed was capable of blending into the surrounding area. Her visor's tactical display allowed her to slip past the traps that Eva had set up, and Hannah slipped into one of the dozens of unmarked containers inside the structure.

Interior lights flicked to life as they revealed one of her 'emergency stashes' of equipment. She had long ago used Cerberus' resources to ensure that she had access to a stockpile of equipment on most of the worlds she had to land on regularly, she actually had over a dozen of such stashes on the Citadel. Each of them also contained a suit of highly potent assault armor, just in case she needed it.

An event that was becoming increasingly likely in this scenario she had to admit.

Armor was perhaps an incorrect term, as it was actually an exoskeleton that fit on top of her normal gear, and it this model had served her well during her last confrontation with a Spectre. The Salarian had been skilled, but they never had the same affinity for violence as some of the other races. Certainly the little shits could whip up a plague to kill a few million souls and not blink, but you put them face to face with their opponent and you discovered just how few of them had the capacity to pull a trigger.

Hannah stepped back into the suit, allowing the bay that the armor was hooked into to begin the process of installing the armor. Clearing her mind, she contacted her blood daughter once again. Hoping against hope that she could talk some sense into her, before it was too late.

"Eva, this doesn't have to end in violence. We can talk this through, just give me a chance to explain."

A full blown laugh emerged from the younger woman, "Talk?! You had thirteen years to talk, thirteen years where it would have been the happiest day of my life to have you back!" An incomprehensible scream ripped out of the girl's lungs, "You abandoned me! Replaced me! Killed my squad! And you think words are going to fix anything!"

Hannah glanced down at her status lights, and reached down to grasp her Sabre rifle while the suit attached the additional weapon systems to the various hardpoints about the suit, "I never meant for any of that to happen, Evalyn, you have to beli-"

"YOU'RE THE REASON DAD IS DEAD!"

Hannah could only bow her head at that, the truth, and she had long since accepted that John would have lived if not for his connection to her, still stung to have hurled at her, "Yes, it is my fault, Eva. We both knew the risks though, and we thought we were doing the right thing."

"Then let's see how you like it when the risks bite you in the ass, say goodbye to your daughter."

Triggering the emergency latch on the container's door Hannah surged out of the container, her shot lined up before Evalyn had a chance to react, or at least that was what Hannah expected to be the case only to watch as the younger woman wrenched herself out of the path of the shot.

S&S

Eva growled at her carelessness, she should have realized that her Mother was just playing for time. She had only been able to dodge as her suits warning systems had caused her to react faster than any human should reasonably be able to. And as she spun to face her attacker she couldn't help but smirk as she found herself standing opposite of the woman who had once been everything to her.

Hannah's armor was misleadingly bulky, she had seen from the security and armor cam footage that the midnight black suit was in fact quite nimble. Glancing down she registered that her Mother had equipped herself with a Sabre rifle, a weapon usually reserved for when Alliance soldiers were fighting heavily armored elite units, or Krogan.

Eva's armor in contrast while a heavy suit was rather lithe, and the predominately white color scheme only served to contrast the pair even further. She was also realizing that she may be woefully underequipped to deal with the situation.

"I'm going to make you suffer for Akuze, that's a promise."

Her drone's opened fire, attempting to distract the woman long enough for Eva to get in close. If her hunch was correct then Hannah was controlling the armor through a link to her primary suit, as such all Eva had to do was damage that relay in some manner and the playing field would be level.

A turret on Hannah's shoulder had taken down one of the drones just as Eva had reached her destination, the spectre threw herself into a slide to dodge swipe from an armored arm only to rise once she was on the other side of her Mother's suit.

Thrusting forward with her cybernetic she went in for a rushed hacking job, only to find, to her great surprise, no internal network, "What the hell?"

Her confusion was momentarily forgotten as Hannah suddenly lashed out with a kick, sending Evalyn back several paces. Her Mother's voice was almost amused as it crackled over her speakers, "You always think about the hi-tech option, never considering that sometimes the simplest solution is the best one."

Gritting her teeth Eva realized her mistake, "Your suit isn't networked, each section is independent with no computer assistance just pre-programmed commands and mimicry."

She threw herself at Hannah again, hoping to use mechanical delay to her advantage. Her plan though was interrupted as Evalyn found an armored hand clamp on top of her shoulder, lifting her forcibly off the floor. Grabbing the pistol from her hip Eva opened fire, only to watch the rounds either reflect or simply bury themselves into the heavy plating.

"You should just give up, Evalyn. No one has done anything that can't be undone tonight."

Her remaining drone dove downwards, landing on what Eva had identified as a missile compartment on Hannah's left arm. Her mother barely had time to look at it in confusion, during which time Eva had cocooned herself in a sphere of biotic energy to protect herself, before the drone detonated taking the explosives with it.

The world blurred around Evalyn, and in the confusion she lost her pistol, though she was vaguely aware of rolling into familiar cover of as several detonations sounded behind her. She was quite certain that this was one of her fallback positions, and reaching up her hand grasped down on the shotgun she had hidden earlier. A grin formed on her face as she, unsteadily, made her way to her feet, and stepping out of cover she unleashed the weapon on the armored form of Hannah.

Seeing that Hannah's left armor was rather damaged from the blast Eva shifted her aim to the opposite side, getting off two quick shots before Hannah had closed the distance.

She was gratified to see that even with the extra plating that the claymore was more than capable of damaging the armor, including the casing on the other missile pod. Unfortunately, she knew that she wouldn't have time to get off a third shot, and so she was forced to detonate the missiles in a somewhat more primal method than usual.

So as her hand glowed crimson from her omni, she lobbed an incinerate directly at the exposed weapons.

The explosion forced the two of them apart, and while the metal on Hannah's corresponding shoulder appeared to be more warped than the opposing side it was the damage to the claymore that was the biggest impact of the event. Eva growled as she quickly realized the gun's rails had been damaged by the explosion, and threw the gun away in anger. And in an effort to buy some time she retreated deeper into the warehouse's narrow passageways, hoping to lure Hannah into triggering one of her proximity mines, as she brought her rifle to a ready position.

That turned out to be unnecessary when Hannah's armored form simply exploded through a container directly in front of the spectre, a blazing orange shield being projected from her arm swung into Evalyn's rifle only to continue from there to strike the spectres armored form as well. The impact struck the warped section of the chest plate, driving the metal uncomfortably into her chest, and knocking Evalyn off of her feet only to bounce off several containers. Until finally she landed heavily on a pile of, unyielding, metal support poles used in construction that was at the end of this particular hall.

"This fight is over, Eva. You let your emotions cloud your judgement and came unprepared, or are you just such a slave to the Council that you obey any order they give you?"

A pained chuckle emerged from Eva at that statement, "Funny you should mention that, they actually want you alive." She grinned at the, almost, imperceptible shift from the older woman, and gripping one of the metal objects she had landed on she swung it at the other woman.

Ordinarily this would have had little effect but for two factors, first she used her biotics to multiply the mass of the pole right before it impacted with Hannah, and second she had hit the woman into one of her explosives, "Whose emotions are clouding whose judgement?"

Eva's boast was soon proved to be premature, as the spectre's shield flared and died as a duo of rounds slammed into them; one of them impacting against her chestplate before detonating.

The explosive wasn't enough to get through her damaged suit, but it was enough exacerbate the damage from earlier, and one of her lungs was very angry with her right now, but it also added the new problem in that a portion of the suit's left arm was also warped. A growl emerged from throat as she pushed herself to her feet, and she quickly realized that, while still operable, her left arm's movement was extremely limited thanks to the damaged plates. She didn't have time for any further tests as she was physically lifted off of the ground by her opponent, "You forced me to do this, Eva, remember that."

"Fuck, you."

A trio of blows rained down upon the Spectre before she managed to draw on enough of her biotics to fling the other woman backwards, though Hannah's suit deployed some type of magnetic claws that dug into the ground mitigating the distance between them that Eva had hoped to achieve.

Raising her missile launcher to her shoulder Eva brought it to bear on the nearby form of her opponent, and she let out a sigh as her weapon's safety programs informed her that she was currently inside the blast radius of the projectile, "Override."

The blast itself was almost instantaneous given how close the together pair were, and a combination of the actual damage dealt, along with the impact sending her flying across the room, it took her several moments to regain her senses. The spectre let out a huff of annoyance once she realized that her helmet's camera was dead, while her own internal display was currently informing her of connection problems with her right arm. As she attempted to move her right arm she became increasingly worried, and she quickly, and painfully, struggled to move her left arm in order to yank her helmet off.

She spat out a curse as she found out that her entire right arm from her forearm down was gone, "That is going to take fucking hours to reprogram a replacement." She tried to stagger to her feet but between biotic exhaustion, and the ringing in her ears she found herself disinclined to do so. At least until she glanced towards where her Mother's armored form lay propped.

However, she wasn't one for assuming the best outcome was the most likely, and so she released the last of her, working, toys that was built into the suit. The tiny drones themselves flitted upwards, hiding themselves in the dark in case she needed them.

Throwing a more critical eye as Hannah's suit it was obvious that it was now little more than a bunch of warped scrap, the explosion having cooked off the remaining missiles that were mounted on the frame, but that wasn't what caught Eva's attention. Rather it was the fact that the armor cracked open as a battered, but mostly undamaged, Hannah stumbled out of the wreckage. Activating the drones, she forced her arm to work despite the pain. The second she had a shot Evalyn fired a burst which, surprisingly, caught Hannah in her right side.

However, the next salvo was absorbed by a glowing orange shield that emerged from the woman's left arm. Evalyn could tell simply from the way her Mother was moving that they had moved beyond the foreplay stage of this combat, it was time for the finale.

Hannah almost casually kicked the weapon out of her hand, though the movement allowed Eva to make note that the right side of her Mother's helmet was severely damaged, and seemingly oblivious to what Eva was planning. Her Mother looked imperiously down at Eva's damaged body, her voice filled with both sadness and anger, "I gave you more chances than I should have to avoid this, but you just couldn't let it go." The woman's hands seemed to tremble from anger just from looking at Evalyn, "Jesus, Eva, just look at what you've done to yourself."

An almost manic giggle emerged from the Spectre's lips, "You don't know half the things that I've done to myself," and as she tilted her head up to look Hannah in the eye the older woman took an involuntary step back. Eva's remaining natural eye was blazing crimson, as a feral grin split her lips as she announced the knowledge she had realized moments before she activated the Agrissa drones, "And you shouldn't have let your guard down!"

The Agrissa system as she had dubbed it was actually a miniaturization of a technology developed by the Elcor. The basic principal being that several projectors would create an ionized zone of gas, plasma in simpler terms, and then you would introduce an electric current to that field. The result is that you can directly attack any target inside the field, while only causing slight interference to any electrical equipment in the field itself.

The technology was very useful in dealing with large, heavily armed, Elcor soldiers, particularly if you wanted to use or sell their gear after you had dealt with them.

Hannah let out a scream as she collapsed to the ground, the drones themselves shifting to ensure that she was still encapsulated inside the field, "You should feel honored, you're the Agrissa's first test subject, Mother."

Evalyn let a smug smile play across her features as she slowly made her way to her feet, and away from the writhing form of her Mother. Her feet carried her to where Hannah's rifle had fallen and, after a quick check confirmed that it was operation with an extra moment taken to override the biometrics, Eva turned back to face the source of the distortions of her life.

She halted the electrical assault momentarily, because she wanted the woman cogent for this, and as their mirrored faces starred into one another Eva levelled the weapon at the other woman, "I would have waited an eternity for this."

Her moment though was interrupted by a surprise biotic assault that threw her into a nearby wall, and Eva cursed herself for letting herself forget about the replacement. Miranda, bruised, battered, but in better shape than the other two women had managed to secure the Spectre's pistol since she had awoken.

She stood tall over the Spectre, the pistol in her hand unwavering as she aimed it at Eva's head, "I hope you enjoy hell, Evalyn." Her finger moved, but when nothing happened Eva only began to cackle, "Do you really think I wouldn't program my own guns to not fire at me? What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

"Fine." Miranda threw the pistol away as her whole body blazed with biotic energy, that energy was swiftly focussed on her fist which began glow with the intensity of a small sun, "Any last words?"

Eva couldn't help but smirk as she replied, "Oriana."

The name was like a punch to the gut of the other woman, and Eva pushed her advantage before rage overruled the woman's love for her sister, "If you kill me, your Father will be informed of her location within seconds. I mean did you really think I would come here without a backup plan?"

She was fairly certain Miranda was considering killing her anyway, before Hannah's pained voice broke the silence, "Miranda, think of Oriana. You did all of this just to protect her in the first place."

Miranda still seemed torn, but Eva knew that she could take advantage of the bond she felt with the younger girl, "Do you really want her to lose her family? She seems happy, normal, if you kill me either way that life for her is over."

The biotics dissipated and Miranda moved over to help Hannah to her feet. Eva for her part used the wall she was propped against as leverage to help herself to her feet, but made no move to stop the pair from moving away.

Revenge meant nothing if you didn't survive past it, but she would be more prepared next time.

"This isn't over Mother, bet your life on that."

S&S

Eva had dispatched a crew to clean the scene, they were a professional group that were utilized by most every organized group on the planet and were renowned for their discretion. Whatever could be salvaged was to be shipped to several warehouses that Barla Von had deeded over to her, and she would retrieve the materials for study when she had the chance.

For now, though her only thoughts were of getting to Tess and making sure that the A.I was alright, and as such she was driving somewhat faster than she should be given that she was on a bike and short an arm.

She slipped the vehicle into the small hanger that was near the base of the building, not large enough for her own ship to fit in but enough that she could have a small collection of personal vehicles. She took off at a jog though the structure, ejecting the armor from her body remotely piece by piece as she went. It would be a bitch to pick up all the pieces later, but the suit was so dented and abused that it felt like she was being crushed to death or in a corset.

Palming the biometric panel buried in the wall, caused it the section next to it to slide open revealing Tess' still functioning A.I core. The sight caused a sigh of relief to emerge from Evalyn, who quickly got to work repairing the damage that had been done. As much as she hated to admit it Hannah could have done a lot more damage than she did, indeed her actions had been almost surgical in how they had restricted Tess from interacting with anything outside of her bluebox.

Reasonably certain that the A.I was once again fully operation she hesitatingly spoke, "Are you alright, Tess?"

She could see the A.I's code shifting in front of her, before a whisper quiet reply sounded in her ear, "No, I don't think so." Eva gently rested her hand on the edge of the terminal that Tess was plugged into, "I'm sorry that you got dragged into this. I didn't think that she would come here, I'm sorry."

"I think I'd like to be alone for a little while."

The human nodded at that, "I understand, but, Tess, you can talk to me if you want to."

"Thank you, Mother."

They both ignored the slip, Tess because of embarrassment, well what the intelligence thought was embarrassment, while Eva knew she simply couldn't react to it properly and because it hurt less to just ignore the comment.

Closing the panel behind her she practically stumbled into the main living quarters, on the way to her workshop where she could begin repairing herself. Only to find herself starring at the still present asari from earlier this evening, "You're still here."

"Where else would I be?"

Liara's hands were practically white from the pressure she was placing on them, and Eva was waiting for the alien to pass out from seeing her, still slightly sparking, cybernetics laid bare. What she wasn't expecting was for the maiden to stand up and slowly make her way over to the human, her eyes betraying the deep thought process that was going on in her head.

"I take it that you had some type of artificial skin over it earlier, either that or I'm more absent minded than I thought." Eva gave a small nod confirming Liara's question, and taking that as permission to continue the maiden stepped closer. Her blue eyes narrowed as she pulled away some of Eva's tattered armor weave, her voice coming out nearly in a whisper, "The whole arm?"

Eva was in fully unfamiliar territory, and she could only nod her affirmative. She'd seen combat veterans turn away at the sight of replacement limbs, yet a blueblood asari was taking it in stride. Unsure of how to react to the situation the spectre gently pushed Liara back, "Sorry, but I need to go and get this fixed."

Of course she had meant alone, but the asari trailed silently behind her as she made her way to the workshop. As soon as she had entered the room she activated several drones to begin the procedure of removing the damaged arm, and then replacing it with a spare she had in reserve. Taking a seat on a bench Eva tore off the remainder of her sleeve to give the drones better access as they removed the arm from the cybernetic socket it attached to, the blonde had to bite back a gasp of pain as the artificial nerve endings were suddenly disconnected.

"So, you are some type of spectre but for the humans?" Eva's eyes shifted angrily at the maiden, but it faded at the sheer curiosity she saw in those eyes, "Something like that, yes." No reason to tell her that she was actually a Spectre.

"I assume there is some type of connection to whomever it was that accosted me earlier this evening?" The sheer phrasing of the question caused a chuckle to emerge from the battered woman, "Yes, there certainly is."

Blue eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Helen Danvers isn't your actual name is it?" That earned a smirk from the human, "No, no it is not."

Liara glanced down at her hands as she mumbled her next question, though Eva still managed to pick it up, "She mentioned that you'd been hurt by an asari before."

Eva let out a sigh at that, "Did she now." Fucking woman, first she abandons her, now she's apparently entitled to an opinion on her personal life.

"Is it true?" There was an edge to the maiden's voice, almost like she was afraid of the answer more than Evalyn was of saying it, "Yes, I was hurt by an asari. I have a great deal of difficulty trusting your species, Liara."

Liara chewed on her bottom lip for several moments following that statement, "Then why trust me? Or at the very least bed me, I'm certain that there must be other human females out there who are available." Evalyn let out a hiss of pain as a drone cleaned out the connections inside the socket, "Fun fact about human's, we mostly are horrible people. Another fun fact, these cybernetics make me the ultimate social pariah in about ninety percent of human space."

Blowing out a breath of air the human gave a one-armed shrug, "Honestly I don't know why I did most of what I did when it comes to you, Liara. Maybe it was how worried you were with talking to someone, maybe it was how intense you got when you were interrogating me, or maybe it was because you get so embarrassed so often that I can't see you as a threat." At the last statement Liara's face once again flushed, causing a chuckle to emerge from the human, "There it is."

The drones flew back into view, carrying between them the replacement limb. The human turned her head to the asari, her words incredibly calm despite what she knew was coming, "Word of warning, I'm going to scream."

The drones themselves didn't have the need for compassion when it came to their patient, and so they had gone straight for the goal. Instantly Eva's mind went blank as every single artificial nerve ending was not only activated, but tested, to ensure that the limb was in working condition.

Hence the screaming, which only stopped when she had regained control of her limb, and as her first act she backhanded the lead drone into the far wall, "I'm fucking reprogramming you little shits into toasters if you pull that crap again!"

Her tirade though was cut short when a blue hand came to rest on her metal forearm, and after a few seconds of debate Eva turned and cupped Liara's face with her artificial hand. The asari for her part actually leaned into the touch, her lips quirking slightly, "Its cold."

S&S

Credit Song: Thank you for the Demon by Mustache

Now I have no idea how many of you are familiar with the Gundam franchise, so I'm just going to come out and state it for those of you who are; Yes, Hannah's suit is based on the Full Armor Gundam.

This story has surpassed the 100 follower mark, woo! Actually I'm rather amused by the fact that this story has nearly surpassed all of the totals of the original that it is based off of, despite it being a whole six chapters shorter at this time.

Like I said, this is me trying out doing shorter chapters more frequently. Now I don't want you guys to start expecting weekly updates from me at this time, trust me I'd love to have that much time to devote just to writing, but we'll see how this works out.

A thank you to everyone who's following the story.


	10. Blood and Legacy

Everyone who hasn't already should go back and re-read chapter 9. I redid the chapter to both spruce it up and extend several scenes. I hope that it helps to rectify some of issues that numerous reviewers noted, honestly I'm glad when I get such feedback as it makes me know what to avoid in the future.

This chapter was written, and rewritten for more times than I care to admit. Honestly I'm disinclined to ever want to do a chapter of this style again, but let me know what you guys think of it.

Song Themes:

Wrex: Dare by Stan Bush

S&S

 _NASA has announced that their probe, Scribe III, has managed to navigate the outer asteroid belt, and is currently projected to successfully enter Bellona's orbit in two weeks and three days. The previous two probes failed to pass through the belt successfully and so this will be the first up close glimpse of planet ten that the world has ever seen._

 _What is known is that Bellona is a massive terrestrial world that has an orbit that takes it far past the solar system's envelope. Scribe will also deploy a smaller drone unit to the surface which will take soil samples to compare with other celestial bodies of our solar system. There is great debate within the Astronomical community as to whether the planet is an extra-terrestrial visitor that was simply captured by Sol's gravity, or if it was simply hurled away from the inner core after it's formation._

 _CBC, 2063_

S&S

The pair had retired to the small common area of Eva's quarters, though truthfully the human hadn't even used the space yet since she had technically taken up residence in the rooms.

Evalyn had spread herself across the room's sole couch, while Liara perched on the edge of one of the chairs that was positioned near where the Spectre's head lay. The asari's gaze was fixated on her entwined hands that sat in her lap, as though they were suddenly the most interesting things in the world. Her reverie only broken when Eva blew out a sigh of annoyance, "You can ask questions, Liara. You wouldn't be still here otherwise."

Blue eyes burned into her own for several moments, and Eva could practically see the gears turning inside the other woman's mind before Liara finally spoke, "Why Helen Danvers?"

A soft chuckle emerged from the human before she answered, "Danvers is something of a tribute to my Mother's memory. Helen though doesn't really mean anything, I just wanted a name that I could shorten to Hel."

Liara's unamused expression caused a smirk to break out on the human's face, though Eva did take the hint and continued her explanation, "Hel was a human Goddess in the Norse pantheon, she was often depicted as half-flesh and half-something else; usually a corpse, but originally her skin was just a different color. She was a child of the trickster god Loki, and ruled over Helheim where she accepted all the souls of those who died of old age or sickness."

"I liked the parallels to myself," she quietly added.

Liara simply watched her for a while as she digested that information, "So I take it you have other cybernetics?"

That earned a grin from the human, "Oh, a few. Though I suppose the biggest one other than my left eye would be this," she punctuated that by lifting her right leg into the air to highlight which one she was talking about.

Several moments of silence ruled before a whisper escaped the maiden, "How?"

"I was a soldier once," a dark laugh emerged from the spectre at that, "I suppose it wasn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things, but it feels like it happened so long ago. Like an old wound that never quite healed right."

She tilted her head to look at Liara, "My unit was attacked by native creatures, no one else made it out alive." The human's metallic limb gleamed in the light as she slowly examined it, "What family I have left probably would have preferred that I had died with my unit, and if they didn't right away they probably do now." A small smirk pulled at her lips, "Some days I think that the person I was died down there that day, and that I'm just a demon masquerading as her."

Liara tensed at the word demon, though Evalyn assumed it was because the asari as a woman of science took offense to such a fanciful notion, "Do you not believe in ghost stories, Liara?"

The asari still seemed on edge but a hint of a smile crossed those full lips, "One of my Mother's acolytes used to tell stories of ancient Thessia. Of heroes putting down villains, or of how the Night Wind was banished from Armali." Blue eyes seemed to dull as the memory continued, "Mother never cared for them, and when she found out that the Acolyte had been telling them to me she banished her from her service."

"My Grandfather probably has a lot in common with your Mother, used to lecture me if I listened to music for more than half an hour, 'When has anything productive ever been accomplished by listening to a bunch of claptrap.'" The human let out a huff of breath, "Fucking asshole."

"You were raised by your Grandfather? I realize that it must be common to a shorter-lived species but it is somewhat unheard of for an Asari barring your sires dying." As though she realized the implication she had ignored the maiden's head dipped toward the floor, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize."

Evalyn reached across the space between them and placed her metallic hand on Liara's knee, giving it a small squeeze, "Yes, both of my parents are dead, Liara. And despite some recent complications regarding my Mother, I'm actually at some measure of peace with that fact."

They stayed like that for a while, neither of them breaking the silence until Evalyn withdrew her arm, "I'll be leaving Illium in a few days, some business in human space is going to keep me occupied for several months." She shifted her position so that she was sitting on the couch rather than lying down, "When I'm back would you like to meet again sometime?"

She buried her face in her artificial hand, "I'll understand if you don't, but I figured that I may as well try."

A pair of hands that weren't her own wrapped around the back of her neck, as a firm, though chaste, kiss was planted on her lips, "I'd like that, Hel."

S&S

"Fuck!" The human spat out the curse as she angrily slammed down the tool in her hand when she accidentally cut too deep into the small part in her hand, the entire situation simply earned a laugh from Tela who was lounging on a nearby chair.

"I don't see why you are even doing that, I mean you can just buy a replica of the ship if you like it that much."

Eva glowered at the asari, "That isn't the point, I need to get used to this new arm." She idly rotated the artificial limb, once again covered in artificial flesh, which she swore felt off despite being physically identical to her previous limb, "Plus, this helps me to relax."

Another snicker came from Vasir, "Right, seems to be working like a charm then."

A small plastic wing bounced off the Asari's forehead, "Shut up, Tela." As the human stood up blue eyes traced the movements of the partially cybernetic woman until she paused in front of one of the numerous displays that she had hijacked on the asari's ship. The screen in question was now filled with streams of data coming in from the Alliance that Tela had no idea how Evalyn was getting access to.

"Why do you bother keeping track of all that? I mean do you really need to know how many times that skinny bitch takes in front of a camera?"

A scoff escaped from Evalyn's lips, "Yes in fact I do need to know that." The formerly blonde woman shot her a condescending glance, "Rachel Gates is a hero who happens to be attractive enough that the Alliance can parade in front of the cameras without needing her to do anything other than look good, and because she survived the Mindoir raid of 2170 they get a temporary surge of support in the colonies every time as well."

Eva let out an annoyed breath, "The woman is also obsessed with revenge and not the type of person I would be putting in front of cameras. She's one bad day from a fully psychiatric break by my last reckoning."

The look that graced Tela's face caused Eva to pause, "As much as you might think I'm oblivious to you looks, I'm not." The human sighed as she turned back to the screen in front of her, "Despite the recent, incident. I am in fact not consumed by thoughts of revenge."

Vasir's datapad was placed on the nearby table as she stood up from her chair, arms across her chest as her head was tilted as though the human was an idiot, "You blew off a direct order from the Council, and only failed at killing both targets because you didn't shoot the hostage first." The asari shook her head, "Look, I never knew either of my parents so this shit doesn't make much sense to me, but what does make sense is that working with you is dangerous."

Eva paused, obviously digesting the words, before replying, "I won't let that happen during a mission."

The asari just shook her head, mumbling as she walked away, "Right, like the fact you still might fly off the handle after the mission is supposed to put me at ease."

Evalyn though didn't care about putting the asari at ease, but she cared about the mission and so she called out at the retreating alien, "You mentioned that you had managed to get some extra muscle from the Broker, is he sending a squad or a ship?"

They were under strict orders to keep the conflict low intensity; the Council didn't want to wait years for Anhur to recover economically before they could start processing Eezo once more.

Though there was no guarantee that Eclipse felt the same way, they would be getting paid regardless of the state they left the planet in according to the contracts Eva had managed to get her hands on.

"Neither, he's sending some mercenary he keeps on the payroll. I think his name is Urdnot Wrex, one of the few Krogan I've met who isn't a braindead thug."

The human nodded as she turned back to the screen in front of her, though now she began the process of researching this new 'ally.'

S&S

She had learned quite a bit about the Battlemaster before she had been forced to head down to the ship's small hanger bay, her own personal craft took up most of the space forcing her to duck underneath a wing to get to the cockpit.

"You've scrambled any monitoring devices that Vasir has down here right?"

A grin formed on her lips as she watched Tess' code shift in response, the A.I equivalent of glaring at her for insulting the intelligence, "I'm just checking, no need to get offended."

She glanced back at the hanger door to ensure that Vasir wasn't about to explode on to the scene, satisfied that was unlikely to happen she reached inside the cockpit and withdrew a small injector. Adjusting it in her hands she checked to make sure the setting was at the appropriate level before pulling her shirt's collar back, exposing several small injector marks, and brought the injector down.

She let out a hiss of both pain and relief, and she felt her body relax as the new dose of nannites flooded her system.

It has been a disconcerting discovery to awaken one morning and suddenly have no connection to the microscopic machines in her body. She had quickly discovered that her nannite levels had dropped as her body attacked the foreign bodies in her system, and so she had been forced to keep topping up her nannites to keep her new abilities active.

Of course, she could also just flood her system with enough nannites that they would essentially take over for her immune system, but that was taking things a bit too far even for her.

Adjusting her shirt back into place she slipped the injector back into the cockpit, a small smile playing on her lips as she could visibly see Tess' worry for her in the synthetic's code.

Which was another side effect of the nannites, somehow the small machines had realized that the biotic node in her brain was a threat to her health and had slowly, but steadily, reducing its size. At their current pace they were going to take months if not years before the node was entirely removed, but she found that her previously fleeting moments of contentment were more regular; though still exceedingly brief.

Her mood though was quickly dampened by the appearance of Vasir on the upper catwalk, her blue face peering down at the human, "I sent a signal ahead, Wrex is going to meet us before we hit the relay. Then we'll travel together to the abolitionists' space elevator. Apparently, they are stuck in a ground war on the surface and the elevator is the only safe way down to the surface."

Normally a space elevator was seen as unnecessary technology in today's society, this was due mainly because of how readily available modern ships capable of easily escaping a planet's gravity were. The protection of Anhur's eezo stockpiles though had been the only thing that the various mining companies could agree on when the colony was founded, and so any ship attempting to land on the planet would be automatically targeted by the orbiting stations unmanned weapons.

She was pretty sure that with some effort she, or Eclipse for that matter, could override those controls, but each station wasn't linked so the benefit to such an action was limited at best.

"I suppose I should get dressed then," was all the human said as she began to pull on her armor for the Krogan's arrival.

S&S

They found the Krogan's battered freighter floating in the cover of a nearby asteroid field, and the two ships were soon docked allowing the reptile to transfer over to Vasir's larger vessel. Wrex stomped his way into the main living quarters, the mercenary's red eyes shifting around the area as his nostrils flared.

As one of those wideset eyes landed on Shepard's fully armored form the Krogan let out a bark of laughter, "You may as well take off the helmet, human, your smell is all over this place," a toothy grin emerged on the Krogan's face, "Unless, Vasir's got a new toy on board as well."

When that got no response from the human Wrex's grin grew even wider, "Well you've got a bigger quad than her last whelp. Turians, think they've seen combat but the moment they find themselves on their own you see who they truly are," rage swirled in the Krogan's eyes as he finished his statement, "Cowards."

Eva for her part just shrugged, as she hefted that case sitting next to him before depositing it in front of Wrex, "I believe it is customary to present a Battlemaster with a gift if you are to spill blood with them."

The Krogan looked at her oddly for several moments before throwing his head back in laughter, "It is a sad day when a human knows our ways better than most of the whelps I have met since I left Tchunka."

Popping the latches on the case the Krogan lifted out the Claymore, the same one that Shepard had appropriated from Miranda, and adjusted it in his hands, a gleam in his eyes as he examined the weapon. Though both Human and Krogan turned their heads at the sound of Vasir's laughter, "Nice to see you've learned that the fastest way to a Krogan's heart is through their gun rack."

Wrex for his part just shot the Asari a grin, "Which heart, Tela?"

That just earned a good-natured chuckle from Vasir, who quickly cleared a space in the middle of the room in order to lift a tactical display that had been sitting in the corner, "Okay, as most of the galaxy is aware of Anhur is engaged in a civil war. The planet is in a strange legal gray area, as it began as a Batarian colony but technically once they withdrew their embassy from the Citadel any colony not inside Batarian space as up for grabs."

She clicked on the display, which highlighted the planet in various colors, "Which is where a number of human mining concerns entered our little tale. They used this status to effectively have the planet declared a corporate world, like Noveria in practice, and pretty much thumbed their noses at both Citadel Space and the Systems Alliance."

Wrex let out a long yawn, "Vasir, just tell me who I'm shooting."

Tela glanced at Shepard, who just shrugged, "I've already looked over the reports, if he doesn't want the background information why bother."

Letting out a slight sigh Vasir nodded, "Anhur is dotted with space elevators connected to orbiting stations, now the stations are designed to target anything they deem as hostile to protect the Eezo deposits on the planet below. This has resulted in the campaign having to be fought as a ground war, with only low level air support like gunships being able to operate in the planet's atmosphere."

Evalyn tapped the station that they were going to dock with, "I want to see if I can override the safeties, if I can do that it would give us at the very least better tactical options in the area around abolitionist HQ."

Vasir frowned at that, "Do you really think they are just going to let you poke around in their systems? The only reason they accepted our help is because the Broker informed them that the Na'Hesit had paid for Eclipse through several Batarian banks."

"Did you think I was going to ask?" Eva tilted her head in confusion, causing Wrex to guffaw, "She's got a point, Vasir."

Eva glanced at the station, "There is a secondary security hub in the lower sections of the station, I'll travel alongside the outside of the station and enter through one of the maintenance hatches."

Vasir nodded at the plan, but her lips quirked into a frown as she realized something, "And how exactly are you supposed to join us on the surface? I can't see the abolitionists just letting you use the elevator after you snuck on to their station."

"We'll leave my ship outside of their scanner range, when everything is all set I'll signal it and then I'll just fly down and join you."

Wrex went to speak but Vasir cut him off, "Okay, that can work. The abolitionists have been pushed back to only a handful of urban centers, the Na'Hesit have a tentative hold on the rest of the planet."

Vasir pointed at the three abolitionist zones, all of the yellow area were cut off from the others by lines of red on the tactical display, "The abolitionists have more men than the Na'Hesit, but their supply lines are a mess along with the fact they have no idea what they are doing."

Wrex smirked at that, "I suppose that is why you wanted me here."

Blue lips quirked into a smirk, "Who better to teach them how to wage war, then a battlemaster?"

S&S

Vasir and Wrex both exited their ships and stepped into the stations primary hanger, only to be greeted by a less than enthusiastic crowd of what she would charitably call armed thugs.

Letting out a sigh the Asari approached the closest human, a man in slightly better armor than the rest of his group along with sporting a large amount of fur on his face, "I'm Spectre Vasir, and this is Urdnot Wrex, it is my understanding that we are supposed to meet with a Henry Mills?"

The human in front of her just growled, "We don't need any xeno help, despite what the boss says." All that earned him though was a sigh and a biotic kick directly to his groin, his men reacted too slow to be a threat but she summoned a barrier and let their civilian model weapons ping harmlessly off of it anyway.

"Okay, you can either bring me to wherever Mr. Mills is, or I can find him myself while Wrex here gets to find out how human tastes like."

The Krogan just snorted at that, "Like I don't already know."

Pointing at the two least moronic looking of the bunch Vasir began to bark orders, "You two idiots are going to bring us to the space elevator, the rest of you are going to go back to whatever the hell it is you are supposed to be doing."

Giving the still prone man one last kick, she added, "And someone take him to a med-bay."

Both Asari and Krogan trailed after their guides through the station, Vasir trying to mask the unease she was feeling. Wrex though caught on to it quite quickly, "Yep, I feel it too. Something is off."

Vasir nodded, muttering quietly as they came into view of the massive industrial device that would take them down to the planet below, "Here's hoping that Lady doesn't have any complications."

S&S

Eva let out a growl as she slowly maneuvered her way across the surface of the station. It would have been a simple matter of just moving to the nearest maintenance hatch had they not all turned out to have been sealed shut and powered down.

She was honestly impressed with that level of paranoia, but at the same time she was furious because it meant that she had to travel to a docking bay that was even further out of the way and infiltrate through there.

Or at least that had been the plan, but one that was altered as she quickly changed course when one of the nearby doors showed signs that it was in a low power state.

Frowning the human maneuvered closer to the door, and a quick glance at the schematics revealed that this hatchway would grant one of the swiftest routes to the security hub which was her target.

Drawing the simplest conclusion she drew her pistol into her left hand and entered the airlock, carefully disabling the monitoring systems so that whoever was in the security hub wouldn't be alerted to her approach. Once the room had pressurized she began to advance cautiously through a series of narrow metal corridors that were only lit by sporadic emergency lighting.

Just before she reached the hub she paused as she could hear a voice coming from up ahead, while a quickly glance around the final corner to her destination she found that the hub's security door had been forcibly opened.

Which meant that she likely wasn't dealing with a human hacker, as they would be more than familiar with how to override the station's security.

She moved as silently as she could until she was in position by the door, and began the process of listening in on her target, "Just tell Sederis to be calm, Jaroth, I'll be through the monkey's security systems in half an hour. I'll fire off a pulse through the emergency sensor relay to let the attack group know to move in."

An annoyed huff replied to that, though there was an electronic quality that meant that this 'Jaroth' was obviously talking on comm's, "Just get it done, Jaergan, you might be my brother but that won't stop Sederis from killing us both if you screw this up." There was a noticeable pause before the voice returned, "We're moving up to the forward artillery site, don't fuck this up for me, Jaergan!"

A scoff emerged from the Salarian in the room, who was oblivious to the armored form that had slipped into the space behind him. As Evalyn pushed her pistol to the back of his head, the Salarian stiffening like a board, she couldn't help but smirk, "Apes."

The Salarian could hardly stutter out a confused, "What?" Before Eva slammed the butt of her pistol on to the Salarian's skull, causing him to slump limply to the floor, "Humans share an ancestor with apes, not monkeys."

Glancing at what the Salarian had managed to accomplish she was pleased to see that he had been greatly overestimating his own skills, but she was confident that it was possible for her to meet the thirty-minute deadline he had mentioned.

A quick search of the area found the transmitter he had been talking about, and she couldn't help but grin at the plan that quickly formed in her mind. "Vasir, do you read me?"

She waited several moments but no response came, which mean that she and Wrex were probably down on the planet's surface.

Sighing she went to work on doing the job she had came to do in the first place, "Guess they'll just have to handle whatever Eclipse has planned down there."

S&S

Vasir blinked at the sudden flash of light as they exited the into the open streets surrounding the elevator, a deafening crack sounding in the air at the same time, "Athame's tits what was that?"

One of the men guiding them glanced up as though he hadn't noticed it, "Artillery barrage, they had tried to use accelerator cannons in the beginning but we just targeted them with the Cities point defense guns. So, they purchased these giant Krogan artillery guns and have been shelling us ever since," the man gave a loose shrug, "You just kind of get used to it after so long. I don't know why they bother as the city's kinetic barrier is too strong for them to break through."

Both Vasir and Wrex exchanged a worried glance at that, but they continued to follow the pair as they led them to a hardened bunker that was only a few blocks deeper into the city from where the elevator had deposited them.

Along the way Vasir had noticed a troubling fact, "There seems to be a lot of civilians here."

The same guide from before answered her, "Most people here were those effectively turned into slaves when they abolished the minimum wage, contracts to work suddenly turned into legally binding ownership overnight."

"All the raw labor in the Na'Hesit cities are being fueled by slave labour, some of them are brought in from Batarian space but most of them were just those who couldn't make it to our territory." Guide number two's grizzled voice supplied the additional commentary.

Another pair of armored humans approached them, a male and female in full armor, "These the visitors that Henry's been waiting for?"

"Yeah, her Spectre credentials passed inspection. There was a bit of an incident on the station, but aside for Jorm's ego everything is fine."

The helmed woman's head shifted, "And the Krogan?"

Wrex just barred his teeth in a grim mockery of a smile, "I handle public relations."

Vasir just shook her head in amusement as they continued into the facility, the inside of the building was a flurry of activity of maintenance and upkeep of the weapons of war, "Reminds me of my home on Tchunka, smells like it too."

Vasir ignored the Krogan's comment, instead focussing on what was going on around them. These people were too relaxed, which meant they had gotten complacent with the state of things.

Never a good sign when you are going to be fighting a war with them.

They passed out of the maintenance section and found themselves in what must be the hub of the abolitionist efforts, a trio of humans, two males and one female, were clustered around a tactical display though that was quickly shut off when the pair of aliens were spotted.

What she took to be the oldest human male stepped forward, she had been told that silver hair denoted age in humans, and extended his hand toward her, "I'm pleased to see that you arrived safe and sound, Spectre Vasir, my name is Henry Mills, and it is a pleasure to meet you."

The Asari didn't take the offered hand, instead she took a few moments to study the man. He, unlike most around him, had the raw edge that sustained panic brought out, but he was obviously forcing himself to appear to be in control for the sake of his people. She frowned as she realized that the entire room had stopped their duties to observe the exchange, "Mr. Mills, I think that it would be best if this exchange take place somewhere else."

As Mills took a quick glance around the room he realized that she was right, and with a quick gesture the other man who had been at the tactical table stepped forward, "Miles here will bring you to one of our briefing rooms, Josephine and I will join you shortly."

The Asari gave a short nod and she and Wrex fell in step behind the human, though as they moved deeper into the complex she noticed that the man seemed uncharacteristically nervous. Shooting Wrex a subtle glance, which he reciprocated with a gentle nod of his head, let her know that she wasn't imagining the human's nervousness.

"Miles, wasn't it?" The man practically jumped out of his skin, stopping his forward movement as he jerked around to look at the Asari, but he managed to bring back a semblance of composure soon enough, "Yes, Ma'am, is there, uh, something I can help you with?"

Vasir took a step closer, she wasn't overly tall for her species but she was tall enough in her armor to be firmly in a position of power, "Everyone here seems rather, relaxed, except for you, care to enlighten me as to why?"

The human, to his credit, seemed to fine some backbone, as his jaw tightened and he fixed his gaze with her own, "I'm in charge of our supply situation, Spectre, I need to ensure that not only do we have what we need to fight but also that we can keep our population fed." The man let out a snort, "You try telling a bunch of civilians who can't comprehend that we're fighting a war for their freedom that they have to ration water, or that they need to share living spaces."

The man pivoted on his heel, "So yes, I'm worried, Spectre, and unlike the others I don't simply get to live in the moment and be happy for it. I have to live thinking about how we are going to get to the next day, and the day after that, and then the day after that." Vasir didn't bother to respond to the man's statement, instead simply fell in line behind him again.

But she could tell that both she and Wrex were of a single mind here, that the man in front of them was nervous for very different reasons.

They entered a small conference room, though their guide was surprised to find that it wasn't empty, "Isabel, what are you doing in here?!"

A young human likely in the middle of her second decade by Vasir's reckoning, and dressed rather plainly aside for an ornate choker around her neck, was sitting at the conference table going over what looked to be logistics reports, "Father asked me to look over our inventory lists, he's worried about how we keep running into shortages unexpectedly."

Miles' eyes glanced around worriedly, "Yes, well we need this room for the meeting with the Spectre, so if you could leave." The man's voice suddenly became far more stern, "Now."

A flicker of confusion crossed the girl's face, "Weren't there supposed to be two Spectres?"

A reply never came as the sound of alarms began to fill the room while amber emergency lighting flicked to life, and, as if they had been laying in wait, small squad of armed humans charged into the room.

Of course, they had severely underestimated both Vasir and Wrex, as Vasir biotically charged into the largest concentration of them, while Wrex simply grabbed a device from his belt with a single toss destroyed one of the doors that the hostiles were issuing out of.

Tela's body glowed as she lashed out with biotically enhanced attacks, grinning slightly when she snapped one human's arm in two who was stupid enough to try and punch her.

"That's enough, Spectre!" Blue eyes turned to find that their guide had produced a gun, but instead of aiming at the asari it was instead aimed at the girl who seemed to be in an almost stupor.

"One more move and the girl dies!"

That threat though was met by a dark chuckle from Wrex, "And? She's not our kid."

"Wrex," Tela's growled reply caused the Krogan to glance at her, before giving a loose shrug as he replied, "What, it's true."

The girl, Isabel, seemed to snap out of her trance, her mouth twisting in anger, "She bought you off, didn't she? You bastard!" As the girl fought in the man's grip Vasir realized that the man was more interested in keeping control of the girl, than he was in watching either her or Wrex.

Which meant that she was the most important element in the room to him, and it also meant she didn't think twice to pull her gun and shoot the human in his kneecap.

Wrex moved forward with a degree of speed that would surprise most given his bulk, kicking away the now prone human's weapon. Vasir in the meanwhile had approached the girl who was far more composed than the asari expected, "Are you alright, child?"

The human simply gave a curt nod, "This isn't the first time I've been kidnapped, or threatened." The room suddenly became bathed in a crimson glow, causing the girl to glance around in worry, "That means everyone is to evacuate the building, what's going on?"

Vasir pushed past the girl and dropped into a crouch near Miles, her eyes turning onyx as she forcibly linked her own mind with the terrified human. Normally she wouldn't do this with an audience, but quite frankly she was positive she didn't have the time to wait.

It wasn't hard to pull the information she wanted, as the man's terror and panic made him unable to effectively fight against her intrusion. Satisfied she had all she needed the asari pushed herself to her feet, turning to face the Krogan, "Wrex, I need you to head back to that command room and protect those people."

The battlemaster simply nodded, "And you're going where?"

Vasir pulled up a map Eva had managed to find from the colony records, "Eclipse is shelling the town. Apparently, they have an inside man over in the generator complex so that is where I'm heading."

Both broker agents began to head off, only to be halted as the human girl shouted, "Wait! What am I supposed to do!?"

"Hide." The Krogan's response just earned a scowl from the child, who picked up Miles' gun with a purpose, "I can help, and I know my way around here better than you." Vasir was about to argue when Wrex just shrugged, "Fine, if you get killed though it isn't my fault."

Tela opened her mouth to argue but a sudden quake shook the building, and the realized that was the likely just the first of many shells that would be on their way if she didn't hurry.

S&S

Eva was finishing up altering the station's targeting parameters when a groan signalled the awakening of her Salarian guest, the amphibian's eyes blinked several times before he recoiled at the sight of himself in her mirror like helmet.

Instead of reacting with fear though that Salarian puffed himself up, "Do you know who I am! Once my brother finds out that you've double crossed him you'll regret this!"

A smirk pulled at her lips, "So, the station's personnel were bought off. Nice of you to confirm that for me, I guess I won't be leaving you in their care like I had originally considered."

Turning away from the Salarian she finished her final alterations, "Tess, you ready?"

She had managed to piggyback through the station's systems to establish a link with Tess, the A.I herself was still in Eva's ship that was slowly drifting toward the station in low power mode to avoid attention.

"Yes, Ma'am, I've analyzed all available material I could find."

Her helmet bobbed as she nodded at the answer, before moving her hand over and triggering the beacon the Salarian had setup prior to her arrival. The Spectre had expected maybe either no response, or a professional reply, not the sudden tirade that erupted from the speakers, "That took you long enough Jaergan, we're already begun the assault."

The Salarian made to shout, but the sight of the Spectre's drawn weapon, along with the slight shake of her head, quieted the alien. It didn't surprise her that he valued his own life so highly, few mercenaries, and even fewer in Eclipse, were willing to put their own lives on the line for their fellows.

Even if they were family it seemed.

"You can't rush a job like this, Jaroth." Jaergan's eyes widened at the sound of his own voice issuing from the communications system, and Eva had to concede that Tess was doing a great job impersonating the Salarian.

A growl emerged from Jaroth on the other end of the line, "Whatever, just make sure that you lie low until we send up a squad to secure the station. We haven't bought off enough of the station's staff for you to just go strolling about, understood?"

"Yeah, I understand." With that the line went dead, and the blonde reached forward to pull the Salarian to his feet. It took her a moment to grab his helmet which she shoved into his hands, "I'd put that one if I were you."

The amphibian wordlessly complied, only to have his hands quickly cuffed together behind his back by the Spectre, "I hope you sealed that helmet properly, otherwise you aren't going to enjoy what comes next."

Eva marched the Salarian back through the route that both of them had taken to infiltrate the station, and as they waited for the airlock to cycle she let out a tutting noise when tried to move for the blade hidden in his armor, "Go for your blade, and you'll find out exactly how long it takes to suffocate in the void of space."

Reaching forward she plucked the weapon from the small of his back, and shoved him backwards out of the now open hatch and into the zero-gravity environment. As stealth was no longer her primary concern pushed herself out into the void, grabbing the Salarian as she went, and relying on her suit's retrothrusters to swiftly move about the station's exterior to the rendezvous that she and Tess had setup earlier.

Drifting up to the Shanxi, Eva shoved the Salarian into the passenger seat before activating the restraints that she had installed into the chair; just in case.

As she maneuvered herself into the pilot's seat she couldn't help but let a satisfied smirk form on her features, "We're just in time for the show, Jaergan."

The show in question was the small armada of fighters and bombers, that were all emblazoned with the Eclipse logo, making its way past the station and into the planets atmosphere. Or at least that had been the original plan, but as the opening salvos of the station's weapons ripped into the vulnerable ships the Eclipse pilots began to panic.

Content that that problem was handled satisfactorily Eva began the process of quickly booting up the Shanxi, and as the cockpit lit up to full power the ship darted forward; ignored by the station's guns as it did so.

The canopy automatically dimmed to counter the heat and brightness of atmospheric re-entry, while Tess handled closing the flaps and swinging the ships wings back to limit drag, "Ma'am, we're about four minutes from arrival at the combat zone."

Eva nodded lightly, "Any idea of what the situation is on the ground?"

"From what I've managed to glean from the station's long range cameras Eclipse has moved in with several mantis gunships that are flying below the station's range. As well it appears that the cities defensive systems are offline, along with large portions of the cities power grid."

Shaking her head, the human muttered, "Tela what the fuck are you doing down there." Seeing that they were nearly into the combat zone she took manual control of the ship, a handful of button presses shifting the wings into a forward delta formation as the ship's weapon systems warmed up.

Her display lit up with the battleground ahead of her, "Tess, load up Sebastian Bach's sixth Brandenburg concerto," a grim smile pulled at her lips as she acquired a missile lock on one of the unaware Eclipse ships, "I like to have some music for the one dance I know."

And Eva had always been very skilled when it came to waging war.

S&S

Tela glanced skyward to see one of the hostile airships crash into a nearby skyscraper, quickly followed as a blur of blue and white streaked through the air signalling the arrival of Shepard, "Athame's tits it took you long enough."

The Spectre though didn't have time to waste on the human's tardiness, and instead continued her mad dash across the city as she biotically leapt from rooftop to rooftop to avoid the fighting below.

Certainly, the abolitionists could use her help, but getting to the generators was a far more pressing concern than saving a few scattered lives.

The asari came to a skidding halt as she found that she had run out of roof, as a wide plaza spread out before her that was absolutely crawling with soldiers adorned in Eclipse yellow, along with a gunship that was lazily hovering above them. Letting out a low curse the Spectre tried to raise Shepard on their comm net, "Lady, I'm stuck across from the generator plaza and I need in their as quickly as possible."

There was a delay of several seconds before Tela heard a muffled detonation in the distance, "Alright, I'm on my way but I don't have any air to ground munitions so I can't guarantee how effective this will be."

"I just need you to distract them." Tela's body rippled with biotic energy as she dropped to the ground below, one of the Eclipse troopers spotting her only for the gunship to lurch as it was struck by two large accelerator rounds from Shepard's ship. The troopers scattered to avoid being crushed by the falling vehicle, only to fail to notice the twin payloads that the passing human fighter had dropped as it cruised by.

Tela waited until the two missiles that Shepard had dropped in her attack run detonated before she took off. The Eclipse members in the plaza itself were still recovering and so they weren't a threat, but there were still some that were in front of the generator complex itself.

She pulled the shotgun from the small of her back, the 'legal' weapon in her hands was a human designed Eviscerator that technically broke several weapon treaties.

Luckily as a Spectre she didn't have to pay much attention to regulations.

As such the weapon in her hands dealt out precise death from a range far longer than other weapons in its class would deal. The asari grabbed an arc grenade from her belt and lobbed it at one collection of foes, while she reached deep into her reserves to engulf the rest of the troopers within a singularity.

After that it was a simple, but messy, task of eliminating the remaining hostiles.

Approaching the closest hatch, she frowned as she realized the doors were still sealed along with evidence that Eclipse had been trying to force the doors open, "That's odd."

"If you can interact with the panel I believe I can open the door for you, Spectre."

Vasir recoiled from the unfamiliar voice, her body flaring as she prepared to attack whomever had snuck up on her.

"Spectre, I'm talking to you over your comm implant. This is Tess, Lady's," there was a brief pause that caused Vasir to grin slightly, "assistant."

The asari let out a slight snort at that, it was an open secret at this point that Eva was using an A.I but it was fine by her if it helped the mission get done faster.

Tela placed an armored hand on the hatch's interface, and was quickly rewarded by it flashing green before swiftly opening to reveal an empty hall, "Well, I guess you are useful."

The asari pushed deeper into the complex, the A.I informing her of where the control room for this type of building would be. What put the Spectre on edge though was the lack of any Eclipse presence despite her finding the occasional body, all of them killed by low power civilian weapons.

Finding the door to the control room sealed shut Tela let the A.I do its thing again, and voices soon filled the air as the hatch opened, "I don't know what Mark did but this virus is like nothing I've ever seen."

Waltzing into the room Tela brought her weapon to bear on the two humans who were busy working at a pair of terminals in the room, "Alright you two, hands over your head and back up towards the rear of the room."

She was certain that one of them probably pissed himself, as they spun to face her only for them to halt when they saw the emblem on her shoulder, "A Spectre? Thank god."

One of the men began to walk forward his shoulders slumping in relief, only to be slammed into the ceiling with a lift field by an annoyed asari, "I don't know you two, I don't trust you either." Giving her weapon a slight shake she gestured to the back of the room again, before aiming at the still upright human, "Now, back of the room. And bring your friend with you."

Moving slowly forward as the human dragged his friend back to the indicated position the asari scowled as she realized she had no idea how she was supposed to get the generator back online, she had merely been hoping to clear a path and have Shepard fix this mess.

Assuming the A.I was still listening in the asari took a shot in dark, "Tess, do you think you can try and get things running from there?"

"Yes, though you will need to maintain physical contact with the terminal for me to interact with their systems. The portion of my programming that I copied into your suit's systems is limited in its capabilities."

Nodding as she placed her hand on the terminal in front of her, Vasir frowned as she realized what the intelligence had just said, "You did what to my suit?"

S&S

Isabella trailed behind the large alien, a Krogan if her textbooks had been correct. Most of the aliens she had encountered were Batarians and the occasional Asari, and while she knew what the other Council races looked like she had never met one of them before.

"Keep back," the alien's gruff voice caused her to instantly halt, and as he slipped around the corner a duo of retorts sounded off followed by a sickening crunch and the whine of metal warping. When no other sound came, the girl moved up to the corner and her eyes widened at the sight before her.

The Krogan's shoulder was stuck in the wall, covered in blood as he had seemingly decapitated the hostile human using only his bulk and speed. Grunting with effort the alien freed himself, and his hands mechanically replaced the thermal clip in the gun he was using. The urge to gag rose in the girl's throat, but that sensation went away as one of the red creature's reptilian eyes shifted to land squarely on her, "Better get used to the sight of blood, kid, you've already been marked by death."

With that cryptic sentence said the Krogan began to plod forward again, his head constantly shifting as he waited for threats to appear from every angle, "Junction up ahead, left, or right?"

Biting back the small gasp that wanted to escape the girl squeaked out, "Right," only to find her nerve and ask the Krogan another question, "What did you mean before, about being marked by death."

The Krogan, gave a loose shrug of his armored shoulders, "It means that your life is going to be dominated by death, same as that other Spectre that's with Vasir." The Krogan suddenly stopped, his nostrils flaring, "Hmm, I can smell a Salarian. Guess Eclipse is in the building now."

Isabella frowned at that, "Then that means they must have my Father, this hall ends right in front of the war room."

"He could have escaped; Eclipse would have taken that room over with or without your Father."

The human shook her head, "He would have detonated this whole section of the building first, this war room has limited control over the other independent cities."

Shaking his head the Krogan sighed, "That seems like a terrible plan," shifting his eyes skyward the Krogan nodded at one of the ducts, "You small enough to fit in that?"

"Yes," the girl's answer was cautious, as she could see where it was going, "But I can't do much with just a pistol."

Shaking his head the Krogan flared a small pulse of biotic energy in his hand, "I want you to use that power in your blood, I don't care if you actually hit anyone with it I just want you to give me a window to take out anyone in that room."

Before she could argue the girl found herself being hoisted into the small space, her personal omni tool quickly cutting a gap through the access panel. Once inside she glanced down at the Krogan, who tapped his omni-tool, "Signal me once you are in position, then I'll tell you when to start the diversion."

Nodding the human began to crawl through the duct, wondering how the Krogan had known about her biotic potential. Her hand trailed to the ornate choker at her neck, which was an asari designed non-invasive amp that her Mother had acquired for her. It turned out that getting pregnant and then raising a child on a planet that had an ambient level of eezo far beyond the national average can produce both powerful biotics and an incredibly high infant mortality rate.

Isabella had been one of the few lucky enough to develop stable biotic ability, but her Mother had always insisted that she keep her abilities hidden to present 'the best face' possible.

She halted her movements when voices began to drift from ahead, voices which only became more clear as the slowly edged her way closer to the war room.

"Team two still hasn't reported back, that's the third team we've lost contact with." There was an odd reverberation to the voice of whomever was talking, which made Isabella think that it might be a Turian who was talking, "I say we cut out losses, kill the old man, and take the Na'Hesit's bounty."

"We're not deciding anything until we find out what happened to the girl, she's worth triple the Hesit bounty and do you think that human bitch is going to pay us if we tell her we also shot her Husband?"

She edged to the access panel that looked down into the room below, triggering the beacon on her omni as she did. Glancing down through the metal slats she found a Salarian tapping away at a terminal below, while a turian and a pair of asari were standing near a group of prisoners. As her eyes tried to find her Father she had to supress a gasp as she spotted Josephine's glassy eyed body that had been tossed into a corner, tears pricked at her eyes as she remembered how the woman had tried to comfort her in the days right after everything had gone to hell.

And now she was dead, just like that.

"Come in, control, we just found team three. They're dead same as the rest, whoever did it looks to be moving towards you." An annoyed sigh emerged from the amphibian at the terminal, "Control here, all teams are to pull back to this position."

The shifty alien twisted to follow the Turian, who had begun to stomp to portion of the room that Isabella couldn't readily see, "I'm just saying, if we off the human now we've got a guaranteed pay-day. Even if we find the girl later do you really think the bitch won't pay if we threaten to sell her kid off to the Bats?"

"Even the dull knife occasionally can draw blood," one of the asari interjected from their position covering the room, causing a confused, "huh," to emerge from the Turian.

Letting out a huff the Salarian stood up, "She's saying you're an idiot, but that even idiots can be right on occasion." Making his way toward the Turian the amphibian pulled a pistol from his belt, "Get him on his feet, its more fun to watch them fall than slump."

The Turian bent over and quickly stood back up, but he had pulled her father up with him, causing a whispered, "No," to emerge from the girl.

She tried to dig into those biotic reserves that she had been taught to suppress, but the power was slippery and unwilling to come to the fore. So, she did the next thing that came to mind, and threw herself on to the access panel causing her to tumble into the room below. Any hope of mounting a rescue went out the window as her head struck one of the desks below, causing the room to spin and lights to blur across her vision.

Frowning the Salarian cocked his head at one of the Asari, who quickly crossed the room and had the girl slammed against a nearby wall. As a blue hand mercilessly moved her head to get a better look at her, the Asari's smile only widened, "Savat, it seems like our brave maiden here decided to save us the trouble of finding her."

The Turian and the Salarian began to speak animatedly, but Isabella's head was still too confused to make them out. Instead her world only came into focus when a single retort filled the room, followed by the sickening thud of a body collapsing to the ground.

She bit down on the Asari's hand and tried to charge across the room, only to be intercepted by a backhand from the Salarian which knocked her to the floor, "I'd behave girl, unless you want to end up like your sire."

His words though barely registered in her mind, as her entire vision, no her entire world, was taken up by the dull eyed vision of her father, "Daddy?"

When no response came, her world seemed to suddenly turn sideways. Colors no longer seemed to match up to what she could recall, and the power that had always lain dormant in her woke up.

The Salarian caught the first blow, nothing more than a hammer blow of biotic force that sent him careening through the room. The Turian was next, as she once again lashed out with an attack that was nothing but rage, and brute force, slamming him upwards and shattering his neck.

The pair of Asari had recovered by this point, and Isabella's attempt to use her biotics on them were brushed aside by their far more refined barriers. The alien that she had bit strutted up to the human girl, and with a pleased grin on her face smashed her bleeding hand into the human's face.

Isabella tumbled to the ground, but she looked up in time to see the large hole bloom in the middle of the asari's chest and the alien to collapse to the ground just in front of her.

She turned her head to see, and hear, Wrex bellow a challenge at the remaining blue woman, his crimson eyes alight with rage as he brushed aside the Asari's feeble attacks. It was at that point that she tried to run, but that only resulted in the Krogan blowing a hole in one of her legs, "I was going to offer you the chance to face the end with honor, but you would prefer to die like a coward."

Sliding a new clip into his gun the Krogan lowered it so that it was facing the still struggling asari, "Any last words, Sister of Eclipse?"

"Burn in hell you sterile, bastard!"

As a trigger pull ended her life the Krogan gave a slight shake of his shoulders, "Not bad as far as last words go." His head tilted to regard the human struggling to her feet, "You were supposed to wait for my signal," but the girl had simply walked past him, and with shaking hands she checked her father's body for a pulse.

"Please, Daddy."

A wheeze from the corner of the room drew her attention, and as she saw the struggling form of the Salarian her body began to move forward before her mind ever realized what was happening. The alien's body was badly broken from the sheer force of her attack, but even still he was more alive than her own father was.

She wasn't sure what she was going to do, before she felt a cold object being pushed against the side of her arm. Glancing down she saw that Wrex was offering her a pistol, a strange understanding glimmered behind his alien eyes, "He owes you a blood price."

And as her hand curled around the butt of the weapon, she realized how right that Krogan was.

S&S

Eva cursed as she let out picked off another Eclipse trooper who thought that getting in her way was a good idea.

Tess had discovered that Eclipse had not only planted a virus in the generator complex, but they had done the same thing to the defense emplacements. Which meant that if they turned the power on then, potentially, her ship might get blown out of the sky by the abolitionist's weapon systems.

Which would not be a win in her book.

Another trooper popped out in front of her, but he was eliminated swiftly by one of the multilegged drones that she had let loose when she had engaged in ground combat. These assault drones, unlike the quartet that hovered around her, weren't linked into her own internal network. Instead they were basically fire and forget weapons that roamed the battlefield, locking down any enemy combatants they encountered by hacking their armor's subsystems.

The Spectre was forced to throw herself backwards as a string of heavy accelerator rounds tore into the air she had previously occupied, "Damn it, Tess, get me another route to that secondary hub. They've bunkered down this junction!"

She would have considered an airstrike, but she had made the call to have the Shanxi go and perform a bombing run on the artillery site that the Na'Hesit were operating.

That might have been a mistake.

Further musing was interrupted when a sudden cry of panic rose out of the Eclipse formation, and a quick glance revealed that Wrex, trailed by a young human biotic, had essentially slammed into the rear of the yellow clad enemy.

"Serendipity at work." Hefting her sabre Eva took off at a run, direction her drones to split up and surround the enemy forces to maximize the enemy's confusion. A brief application of biotic power along with her cybernetic leg allowed her to easily clear the metal barricade that had been erected in the street, landing her just behind the soldiers who were still focussed on the attacking Krogan.

Several rounds later and she was the only soul on the raised platform, and with a wry grin she braced herself as she wrenched the heavy accelerator canon off its mount. Now these weapons were supposed to be used by battle suits, or at the very least a Krogan, but between her biotics and her cybernetics she could maneuver the weapon with minimal difficulty.

Plus, there was something incredibly satisfying as she unleashed hell upon the remaining Eclipse forces.

The rest of the fight was little more than a rout, and soon she found herself facing off with the Krogan who was now cradling the canon in his stubby arms, "Who's the kid?"

"Henry Mills' kid, he's dead." If the girl took offense to the Krogan's remark she was remarkably good at showing it, though Eva supposed she could still be in some form of shock. She recalled that she had been much the same way after her mother's 'death.' She had been so drugged out following her Father's death that she could hardly remember much, they hadn't even waited for her to recover before they held the funeral.

Harrison Shepard, galaxy's least empathetic grandfather.

"Alright, our objective is to get to the secondary security hub so I can get the cities defenses back up and running. Once that's done then Tela can get the power back on and this turns into a cleanup operation." Quickly updating both Wrex and the girl's displays with the updated destination she began to move, "Any questions?"

When none were forthcoming she nodded grimly, "Good."

S&S

"Are you out of your fucking mind!"

Eva didn't care that it would be obvious to anyone listening in that she was speaking in her native accent, as her rage was causing her to revert to her natural tongue. Tela for her part just sighed from her spot in the battered command center the two spectres had set up, "I understand your reservations about this plan."

"Plan? I don't think you mind fucking everyone is much of a plan." The human suddenly spun and slammed her fist into the wall, burying the steel several inches inside the wall as her chest heaved, "This is wrong, Tela."

A faint click signalled that Vasir had set down the datapad she had been browsing, "Maybe, but so is that A.I of yours, so is the fact that this planet doesn't have a minimum wage." A sigh filled the room, "Look, the galaxy is full of things that are wrong, and sometimes," another sadder sigh emerged from the asari, "a lot of the time, the only way we can fight against a larger wrong is by engaging in smaller wrongs ourselves."

Vasir placed a hand lightly on the human's shoulder, "I'll mark down your objection to this on my report, but as the senior Spectre this is my call." Moving back to the desk the alien shot another glance at her 'partner,' "Maybe you should go for a walk, clear your head."

Nodding mutely the human grabbed her helmet on the way out, her footsteps carrying through hallways of people who leapt to get out of her way.

Not so different from the last time she had been on Arcturus she supposed.

Eventually she found herself standing next to the grizzled old Krogan, who in turn was observing the human girl who was surrounding herself with a biotic aura in a cleared off area on the building's roof, "Wrex."

An amused huff emerged from the Battlemaster, "Lady." They stood in silence for another few moments before the Krogan broke it, "Does your species put much stock in blood, Spectre? Do you measure yourself by those who have preceded you?"

Tilting her head at the thought she had to concede that yes, humans still did put a great deal of faith in blood and legacy, "I suppose that we do."

Wrex's jaw moved as though he were chewing on the information, "I thought so. My people remember the warlords of old, for all of their folly they did once close those hands around the throat of the galaxy." His head tilted towards her, "I find it strange to meet a human with the blood of a warlord who hides it."

"What makes you think that I am what you say I am?"

That caused a bellow of laughter from the Krogan, "You can't hide blood like that behind a fancy helmet." A grin swept across his craggy features, "Tell me, do you ever get the urge to force others to bend to you simply because you know you can?"

Evalyn stilled, as though she was suddenly uncomfortable in her own skin, which only drew another low chuckle from Wrex, "I thought so."

He took a few plodding steps towards Isabella, his unofficial trainee it seemed, before he glanced back at her, "I might be here because of Vasir, but I think the blood is what brought the two of us together."

Eva didn't say anything as she turned away, striding through corridors as she sought to put distance between herself and the ideas that Wrex had just tossed around at her.

She hadn't left the Alliance just to turn into what she had never wanted to become in the first place.

She could only pray that that was still true, even as she sent hardened soldiers scampering from her path oblivious to the small smile on her lips as they did so.

S&S

Credit Song: Prelude to War by Bear McCreary

Apologies for the delay here, but quite frankly this chapter was beyond a chore to write. If I felt that I could reasonably skip this section I would have, but I couldn't so here it is.

My thanks to all those readers, reviewers, and followers out there.


	11. Crimson is her Color

This chapter was supposed to be done last week, but it just refused to stop getting longer.

Song Themes:

Isabella Mills: With Slander for a Blade by Dirt Poor Robins

S&S

 _Canada's Prime Minister, Catherine Freeland, has pledged to continue the previous government's position in the matter of 'Martin v Canada.' Freeland's government came to power when a surprise vote of no confidence was called shortly before the winter recess resulted in a short, but bitter, campaign that followed._

 _Some had theorized that Freeland's government, under pressure from cybertech firms such as Beacon Technologies, would drop the case, effectively ending the Federal government's restrictions on 'unnecessary' cybernetic augmentation. This latest news though means that in just a month from now Canada's Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments on whether the Canadian Government infringed upon the Canadian Charter of Rights when they restricted augmentation technology._

 _This case will be of great interest across the world, as it represents the first of a series of legal challenges against the so-called 'anti-augmentation' laws that numerous governments worldwide have put into place over the last few years._

 _BBC, 2063_

S&S

Vasir scowled as she exited the gunship and began to make her way deeper into the abolitionist complex, four months of combat in all its dullness and terror yet they were still no closer to accomplishing their mission.

She spotted Wrex drilling a handful of humans that he felt showed 'promise,' "Wrex, where is she?"

The Krogan tilted his head slightly to regard her, keeping his other eye on the fledgling warriors below, "She's been locked up in her lair since you left."

Vasir couldn't help but sigh as she felt a stress-born headache beginning to develop, "Goddess, why do I get stuck with the insane one's." A destination in mind she quickly moved towards the heart of the compound, and soon flesh and blood guards gave way to one's of metal and circuitry.

Evalyn had been shipping in new models of the combat mech's her company was producing as often as she could, each iteration more dangerous and refined thanks to the combat data that was being collected on the ground. If that was all the human was doing then Vasir wouldn't care, but Lady had realized early on that she was, aside from Wrex, the most experienced military mind on the planet and that her experience would be needed practically everywhere.

So, she had of course figured out a way to do just that.

A reinforced security door, that had been added since the incident that occurred when they arrived in system, opened, allowing the Spectre to slip inside and enter the nerve center of their little resistance movement. Pushed to one corner of the dim room was a large cylinder, and within that cylinder was her current partner.

The device allowed Eva, with the assistance of her A.I, to observe everything that was happening in the abolitionist tactical network. It essentially allowed her to move and update the forces under their command with a thought, and it was true that during the times that she was plugged in was when they made their greatest strides.

It was also exceedingly taxing on the human, likely to the point that she was doing even more damage to her brain.

Striding across the room Vasir wrapped her hand around the manual override and yanked it down, causing the object's front to swing open and a blonde, hair dye being in short supply, human to collapse to the floor. Vasir just sighed as she looked down at the almost pitiable figure, "How long have you been in there?"

All she got in response was a wracking cough, and with a roll of her eyes Vasir went and grabbed one of the liquid supplement packs that human biotics used, "Drink this, slowly."

Silence pervaded as Eva leaned back against the device, slowly regaining her wits and some energy as she drank from the package. Finally, her eyes moved up to Vasir, "How did the mission go?"

A small shake of Vasir's head caused a sigh to erupt from the human, "That bad then."

The asari moved across the room, and began to update the plans with the information she had just gathered, "Both Sederis and Jaroth haven't left been planetside for nearly a month, if the Na'Hesit and their corporate backers need something they travel to the station otherwise they are all holed up in New Thebes."

Pushing herself unsteadily to her feet, Eva made her way to one of the tactical displays, "Which means that my plan is our only option."

"Except it goes against our directive; we're supposed to minimize the damage, and a space station is not 'minimal' damage, Shepard."

The human glared at the use of her surname, but quickly shrugged it off, "You keep hiding behind the Council's orders so that you don't have to admit the truth of our situation," noticing Vasir's puzzled expression the human gave voice to the unspoken sentiment that filled the abolitionist halls, "We're losing."

Shaking her head in disagreement Tela moved closer, "How can you say we're losing? They've lost more men, more resources." Throwing her arm in a gesture at the table in front of them, "We just took back two cities, how can you even think that we are losing?"

Mismatched eyes glowed with grim knowledge, as the human directed her next statement to the ever present third party, "Tess, bring up the projections based on the last cycle of data." The display shifted, and Tela frowned in confusion as the Na'Hesit and their Eclipse allies slowly but surely began to push back and reclaim their lost territory. The asari couldn't help but voice her confusion, "I don't understand, what's changed?"

"Aria." An image suddenly filled the screen of a ship bearing Aria's mark moving towards Eclipse held space, "She's been trying to draw this combat out, but since that isn't an option anymore she's going to make sure that the side that wins is going to be in her debt."

Tela let out a groan at that, "And this way she can ensure they don't try and muscle in on her eezo profits in the Terminus systems." Moving away from the display Tela made a lazy circle of the room before nodding, "Okay, if, and I mean if, we go with your plan how long is our timetable?"

Eva summoned the plans on to the table, "I've had the most recent Typhon models already loaded on to the colony tug. Those units, plus maybe twenty or so abolitionists and I'm confident that we can neutralize Sederis."

Tela tapped a finger against her lower lip as she mulled it over, "Our timing is going to need to be perfect. Ground forces will need to engage with the defences at Thebes otherwise you'll get overwhelmed by the Eclipse reinforcements."

"Plus, if you attack too late then the corporatists might have a chance to flee."

Tela sighed as she glanced at the casualty projections that Tess projected, "A lot of people will die, Lady."

"It's a war, Tela, people always die."

Despite what many of the people who lived on this planet thought, the Spectres goals were not to liberate this planet but rather to give a very harsh lesson to those who would attempt to propagate slavery within Citadel space.

Vasir finally gave a small nod at the plan in front of her, "Alright, we'll figure out personnel tomorrow. How long do you think it will take you to drill into your picks what their missions are?"

Eva simply gave her a smug grin, "What do you think Wrex has been doing all this time?"

S&S

The meeting that took place the following day was small, consisting solely of a handful of trusted, and vetted, abolitionist commanders, Wrex, and the pair of Spectres. Evalyn back in her guise hiding armor swiftly launched into an overall description of what was to come.

"This operation will consist of an attack on both New Thebes and its associated station Sacred Band." She moved her hand over the map and tapped a section of space away from the planet, "We're going to use the colony tug that is sitting at the L4 Lagrange point and use it to breach the station, upon doing so we will neutralize Jona Sederis and deal with the remaining Eclipse survivors."

Of course, she wasn't going to mention that they were going to cut a deal with Eclipse absolving them of any and all guilt, that would just cause unnecessary issues at this point.

Vasir, from her position next to Eva, tapped the planet which caused an enlarged view of the city to be assaulted to appear, "Meanwhile all our forces which aren't currently engaged in combat theaters elsewhere will be assaulting the city. Our job is twofold, one to ensure that no Eclipse reinforcements are send up to the station, and to ensure that as soon as Eclipse is taken out of the equation that we are able to round up those who are responsible for this fiasco in the first place."

Jackson, one of the first to have been meld probed by Vasir, spoke up first, "No offence, Ma'ams, but why is this attack even required? We're making steady progress at retaking the planet so this attack seems needlessly risky."

Vasir gave him a small, but grim, smile as she answered, "We've just received intel that Aria T'Loak is backing Sederis in this fight, which means that they will be able to keep bleeding us dry as Omega's coffers ensures that the Na'Hesit have all the conscripts, eezo, and weapons that they need."

A dark chuckle emerged from the lone Krogan, "Which one of you two pissed off T'Loak? She wouldn't be getting this involved unless there was something personally in it for her, and she really doesn't care for Sederis."

That only earned Eva an almost catlike grin from the Tela, but the human ignored it as she pushed forward with the briefing, "Wrex will be accompanying Vasir, while the squads he has been training will be accompanying me once this meeting is over."

The sole non-human commander, a Turian who went by the name Pobus, grumbled out a question, "And when is this assault happening exactly? You can't expect us to survive this suicide mission if you don't give us time to prepare."

Vasir made to reply but was cut off as Eva stepped closer to the assembled 'military' leaders, "If this were a regular war then I would agree with you, but even with Vasir's efforts we all know that our security is compromised. There are too many people, both civilian and military, that have family in Na'Hesit territory, and those people would sell us out in a heartbeat if it meant protecting their loved ones."

The abolitionists grew quiet at that, remembering the attack that had occurred when the Spectres had first arrived. Most of those who had assisted Eclipse had been people with family who hadn't made it to safe territory, and family was a motivation that was easy for most people to understand.

Evalyn even understood it, though her definition of family was certainly skewed at this point she had to admit.

She let silence rule just long enough so that her message had time to sink in, "This mission though is about putting a stop to all of this, we can, and we will eliminate Eclipse from this equation. This war could drag on for years, or we could finish it in a handful of days and you can start getting back the lives you once had."

She could tell that her words had swayed enough of them to cool the hottest of tempers, though she and Vasir would have to do some additional one on one damage control before she left for L4. Shutting off the tactical display she remotely opened the room's main hatch, "You're all dismissed, get your people ready and your assignments will be uploaded to your Omni's when you are on the transports."

There was some mild grumbling, but no blow-ups as the militia fighters left the room. Eva though was shaking her head in mild annoyance as she muttered, "Christmas," causing Vasir's lips to quirk downwards in confusion, "You've lost me, Lady."

Eva let out a sigh, "It was something they said during one of our major wars in the twentieth century, 'Over by Christmas,'" shaking her head again the human broke out of her reverie, "Regardless, we can't afford to let it spiral out of control like that."

The senior Spectre clapped a hand on her shoulder before leaving the room, leaving the human behind with Wrex whose gravelly voice filled the room, "Try to make sure the girl makes it out alive."

Knowing that the Battlemaster had developed a soft spot for the young human biotic he had been training she nodded, "I'll try."

S&S

Eva moved through the transport ship as she hunted down the last squad leader to give them their assignment, Isabella had proven both competent and highly motivated which had earned her command of a small unit that would be in charge is disabling the security systems.

She found the girl in one of the forward observation rooms, a feature that was both dangerous and unnecessary in Eva's opinion but she didn't design the ship.

The girl had hardened both in mind and body over the last few months, and had taken to wearing an armored coat that Eva had shipped from Illium for her to use. Though said coat was also somewhat ill fitted now as the girl had hit a late growth spurt, with none of the growth going to her height. As such the girl had to tilt her head back to regard the spectre, but that was normal for Eva as she was the same towering height as her Father had been.

"I've been looking for you." The sound of the mechanically distorted voice was normal for the young warrior who simply shrugged before she answered the question, "The furthest I've ever been was to one of the orbiting stations, this is the first time I've ever truly escaped natural gravity."

Eva nodded as she moved up to the viewport as well, "You get used to it, after long enough natural gravity starts to feel abnormal." Isabella's omni flashed as Shepard transferred over the mission plan that the girl and her team were responsible for, "Your team is to work with both Arashu and Amonkira squads until you reach checkpoint four, at which point use the emergency lift to progress down to the beta security hub and run the program that I just uploaded to your omni."

She paused momentarily before adding, "You should probably make sure everyone has a copy of it, just in case."

Isabella nodded, but as a small frown crossed her lips she, cautiously, voiced a question that Eva was sure had been in her head for quite some time, "What are you? I mean, species wise." She flinched slightly when Eva focussed her attention solely on to her, causing the girl's distorted reflection to stare back at her through the Spectre's helm, "I'm nothing, or at least that is what I am as long as I wear this armor."

It was true, the armor was both a prison and a liberation of sorts. It tied her to the Council certainly, but it also freed her from what she was and what she would become again if she was stripped of it.

Glancing forward Eva realized that they were in visual distance of the colony tug, and so with a few commands she brought up an enlarged view of the massive vessel on the viewport. Isabella's eyes widened at the sight of the ship, "That's enormous!" though a frown soon developed on her lips, "Why would something like that be here though, and how did you know about it?"

Eva tapped at the ship, causing a digital representation of it to spin slowly on the screen, "Eezo processing is a dangerous procedure, even more so when it is done planetside. Normally we find it on asteroids, or barren worlds not ones that are hospitable. As such the mining conglomerates, right before the civil war started up, had decided to move manufacturing to L4, which meant moving all those workers on the surface into space as well."

A pleased smirk formed on her lips, "I found that in their public minutes, and so it simply became a matter of finding out where they left the tug." Seeing the girl's still questioning expression she elaborated further, "Every colony project needs a tug, they are basically a bunch of engines surrounded by heavy plating in case of an accident. You need to build colonies near resource rich areas like asteroid belts, and then the tub drags them to their final destination."

Glancing from the screen to the Spectre and back again Isabella shook her head in disbelief, "And you're going to use it, as a battering ram?"

Which only earned a laugh from the older woman, "Sounds like fun doesn't it, if we're lucky we might shatter the space elevator too and ruin Eclipse's chances for reinforcements."

"How likely is that?" The question gave Eva pause as she did some brief calculation in her head, "Rather unlikely, we'll damage it likely but to destroy the elevator would require us to be moving at a speed where we would be unable maneuver and the station's emergency protocols would have to fail to activate."

She clapped the girl on her shoulder, causing her dark braided hair to shift, "I'm not going to say you shouldn't worry, but we've already put this plan into motion. No need to worry about what you can't change, and focus on what you can."

S&S

The transport lurched suddenly, a side effect of the pilot having to stick close to the ground to avoid detection, causing those in the crew compartment to jostle violently. Wrex let out a growl at the continual evasive maneuvers, "It's embarrassing for a warrior to die before he gets to the fight, Tela."

Vasir sitting across from him just smirked, "We'll be fine," though as the ship banked suddenly in the opposite direction she quickly amended her statement, "I'm pretty sure we'll be fine."

That just earned an annoyed huff from the large reptile, before he, uncharacteristically, continued the conversation, "Which one of you had the idea to send the girl off world?"

"Lady made that call."

Wrex gave a small nod at that, "Good, it's a hard thing killing a parent."

Vasir didn't respond to that, as she knew that the Krogan didn't like to open up about his past on Tchunka. Instead she pulled herself to her feet and made her way up to the cockpit. The human pilot, his name started with an M she believed, didn't react to her presence, as this had become a standard occurrence for any pilot that had flown the asari spectre, "Are we on schedule?"

The pilot didn't answer immediately, instead he glanced down to check a few readings on his displays first, "This route has more obstacles than the scouts reported, the main force will probably arrive on time but we'll be arriving a little late to the party."

"How late?" but a shake of the pilot's head was all the answer she needed, "Alright, just try to get there as quickly as you can without killing us."

Slipping back into the crew compartment she settled back down across from Wrex, whom was in the midst of his seventh weapon check, "You really think that anything has changed between now and ten minutes ago?"

The Krogan paid no heed to her as he finished up his check, finally satisfied he set the weapon down at his side and glanced up at the spectre, "You really think we can rely on the Salarian's intel?"

"Given that we both had a go at him I'm as confident as I can be."

The Salarian in question was Jaergan, Evalyn's captive and brother to the number two Eclipse agent in this system; Jaroth. According to their guest Jaroth wasn't one of Sederis' people, but he had been appointed by the board to ensure that Sederis didn't screw up what was a potentially lucrative contract.

Unlike the Blue Suns, Jona Sederis didn't have enough capital behind her when she formed Eclipse which had forced her to partner up with several well to do investors who had taken the company public. These investors did recognize the value of Sederis' reputation, but they also knew that she was a liability when it came to more delicate matters. Which resulted in the appointing of Jaroth and several others, who in theory could overrule Sederis.

Now there was no way that Jaroth would roll over if Sederis was still in the picture, the last corporate stooge who had tried to pull rank on her had found himself turned inside out. Remove the bitch though, and that was a different story.

Of course, they couldn't just kill her, too many of the high-level members were fanatically loyal to Sederis. As such she needed to be neutralized, though in a fashion that would paralyze her followers for fear that harm might come to her.

"You never did say which one of you ticked off Aria." Wrex's voice brought her out of her own mind, though Tela simply gave a light shrug, "I'm never met her, I know that Lady had some dealings with her but as far as I'm aware they were mostly cordial."

Wrex suddenly let out a bellow of laughter, "Remind me to give her my condolences next time I see her, not many survive Aria's attempts at courting."

That stopped Vasir cold, before a singular giggle emerged from her lips which quickly developed into tear inducing laughter, "Aria's trying to sleep with Lady?"

"Less sleep with than trying to get a kid out of her. It is her style, both before and after she became a queen bitch."

The giggles lasted her until the transport hit the dirt, and then there was nothing to laugh at.

S&S

"Impact is in five minutes people, double check your safety harnesses and prepare for some turbulence." Isabella couldn't understand how the Spectre could be so calm given that they were riding in what was essentially a giant metal fist on a collision course with an even bigger metal object.

Yet she simply strode around the bay doing spot checks on everyone's gear, and as she yanked on Isabella's harness the Spectre's mechanical voice broke the bay's silence, "I nearly forgot, Wrex wanted me to remind you that you aren't done of your training yet. So, don't even think about dying yet."

The thought of the grizzled old warrior being worried about her safety caused a smile to form on Isabella's lips, Wrex was incredibly rough but he had a good heart and she found the small tidbits of Krogan culture that he had dropped to be fascinating.

Before she had started training with the Battlemaster she had simply tried to coast through life, she was smarter than most and Mother had seen to it that she had every advantage possible. As such she had avoided anything that even offered the possibility of failure, but Wrex had shown her a different path.

A better path.

He liked to joke about how failure was the greatest teacher, and that it was a testament to the sheer stupidity of his race that they weren't the rulers of the galaxy after how many failures they had suffered. Still though she had never felt more alive than she had in these last few months, the Krogan had kept her focussed and busy in continuing her Father's work.

Today he would finally be able to rest peacefully, and then she would focus on the future.

"Impact in sixty seconds, get ready people!"

The ship began to shake as impacts from the station's perimeter weapons began to slam into the heavily armored vessel, but it would take far longer than a single minute for this ship to be compromised.

The timer on her display ticked below the thirty second mark, and her entire body clenched as she wrapped her arms around her torso like she had been shown.

And then hell broke loose, metallic screams filled the air as she was buffeted in her crash chamber. The bulkheads pinged and buckled inward, while the ship's V.I began to list off damaged systems; which apparently consisted of the entire ship.

The abolitionists began to clumsily extricate themselves from their crash webbing, only to be shown up by the Spectre who was already striding across the room like some modern god of war flanked by an entire squad of metal soldiers.

The Typhon Mark 4, or T4 according to the Spectre, resembled an armored humanoid and they were armed with a variety of weapons that were powered directly from the mech's own internal power systems.

Lady made a gesture and pairs of mechanoids split off from the force she was leading, each of them moving to one of the assigned squad leaders, "These mech's will be assisting your teams and they are programmed to follow your directives unless they are contrary to the mission. Don't hesitate to sacrifice them, machines can be replaced; lives can't."

With that the white armored woman began to lead them out of the damaged ship, eventually blowing open one of the airlocks on the ship's port side to gain access to a heavily damaged but serviceable portion of the station. A map was suddenly projected from the Spectre's omni-tool, and she tapped a portion of it that suddenly caused all the other squad leaders' maps to update as well, "We are presently in quadrant four of level sixteen of the station," on her HUD Isabella could see a segment of the station highlight before a red line traced to a new destination, "and we will proceed to transit station three before splitting up into squ-"

She was cut off as accelerator fire began to fill the hall, Eclipse soldiers pouring out of a hatch further down the hall from the abolitionist position. The T4's immediately began to engage, their presence obviously startling the mercenaries as they were almost wholly focussed on the inhuman combatants.

Isabella reached down and tapped into her biotic reserves, she still wasn't at her full potential as there was no time for her to get an amp implanted but she still packed a punch. The swirling energy left her hand and struck one of the eclipse soldiers, causing him to fly backwards into his fellows as the throw field did its work.

Lady for her part simply strode forward, the rifle in her hand taking a life every time that it spat out a round.

Wrex had said it was a human design called a Sabre. She had later looked it up and discovered that it was custom designed by the Alliance military for people who had achieved N6 or higher. So Lady had either been in the human special forces, or she had killed one of them.

The Eclipse force that had spotted them was routed quickly, but the Spectre didn't waste anytime in sending the mech's to begin clearing their path. While she permitted her flesh and blood soldiers a few moments to check for any injured.

Whoever she was, Isabella always noticed that Lady always seemed more comfortable on the battlefield than she did back at base. She had asked Wrex about that once, and he had just cryptically said that she had the 'blood of a warlord' in her.

He had gone on to explain that it was a title granted to only the most powerful of warriors, and it was something the demanded respect even if they were your enemy. Elaborating further, Wrex had explained that a warlord was a warrior that inspired people to follow them, he had struggled to explain how they inspired such confidence merely telling her that she would know it if she felt it.

Still, as she watched as the people around her snapped to attention as Lady's voice barked out commands she could almost believe in what Wrex had said.

S&S

A group of Eclipse soldiers howled in pain as Eva overloaded the cryo containment systems of a shipping crate they had been using for cover, engulfing them in a deluge of sub-zero gas that effectively removed them from the current sortie. Glancing over her shoulder she shouted at the closest squad of abolitionists, "Harrison, get your squad up here and push up the left flank.

The man nodded and with a few quick shouts into his headset rallied his people to start pushing on the collapsing Eclipse line, in the meanwhile Eva had summoned several of the mech's and leapt over the barrier she was using for cover. Pushing deeper into the plaza they were fighting in she shifted her aim high and began picking off the soldiers in the upper galleries, relying on the Harrison's squad and the T4's to keep her protected from the threats on her level.

A metallic whine filling the air caused her to shift her attention to ground level, and she turned just in time to see that one of the mech's being crushed by a shipping crate. Though the machine was still firing despite most of its superstructure being crushed by the crate.

Eva ignored that however, and instead concentrated on the Eclipse Sister only a few meters front of her, the Sisters were one of Sederis' personal units and operated the highly lucrative smuggling routes that moved through Illium's capital of Nos Astra.

The asari shot her a grin as she charged at her on a wave of biotic energy. Given how close the asari had been Evalyn didn't have time to deploy a damping field, instead she engulfed her own body with as strong a biotic barrier as she could and mag locked her boots to the ground as she let the asari's attack slam into her shields.

Even with those efforts though both her barrier and shield were destroyed, causing the force of the blow to push her backwards; her boots screeching against the deck plates as they struggled to keep their lock on the floor.

Attack over the Spectre straightened her posture causing the few warped plates on her armor to ping in protest. Realizing her mistake the asari's eyes widened as Eva lunged forward, slamming her replacement enforcement gauntlet into the Sister's skull causing the alien to collapse to the floor.

Checking to ensure that her shields were still recycling she took a quick stock of the battlefield. Her mech's, along with the support from the abolitionists, seemed to have taken over this section of the station, which meant that they needed to move on to the second phases, "Alright people, everyone move to the lifts now. We're wasting time!"

They fell in line with admirable discipline for a group that had been little more than civilians playacting as soldiers mere months ago, but she knew that most of them wouldn't survive direct encounters with Eclipse Regulars.

She just had to hope that most of them were engaged down on the planet below, but that Sister she had just fought did not leave her with a lot of hope in that department.

As she walked toward the bank of lifts situated in the rear of the room she found that the squads were pouring into every transit device available. Luckily, they had landed close to the hanger that handled refined eezo, as such it had dozens of lifts that accessed every portion of the station in order to speed up processing and shipment of the valuable resource.

Another advantage to this lift was that the mining companies didn't want their competitors spying on each other, so the lifts had no surveillance and were cut off from system control if you had the correct passcodes.

And as a Spectre, she had found it rather easy to strong-arm representatives of the non-Anhur mining guilds into giving her those codes.

Eva though had her own target, and slipped into one of the express elevators meant for emergency situations she shot skywards to the section of the station reserved for corporate heads and visiting politicians.

Her research on Sederis had revealed her to be a poor imitation of Aria, so an area devoted to such gaudy luxury seemed like a good place to start hunting.

Cautiously moving forward, she easily breached the station's local network and found herself frowning at what she discovered. This entire section, barring one complex directly ahead, was completely dark. Unhooking a pair of black boxes that had been sitting at the small of her back she threw them on to the ground in front of her, the objects quickly unfurled into the next generation of her spider-like assault drones which swiftly skittered off to scout the area.

With their feeds transmitting to her HUD she moved forward, keeping to cover whenever possible as she moved through the empty streets in an effort to lower the risk of an Eclipse sniper getting lucky.

Coming across the complex she found that it was entirely unguarded, and unsecured, so of course it was a trap. Summoning one of her drones which quickly scurried to her position she sent the small spider like mech into the structure, only to have nothing happen at all.

"I'll admit that I was hoping that you would actually be stupid enough to go in, I've met enough Spectres to know that most of you Council worshipping assholes can hardly think with anything other than your guns."

Glancing around slowly Eva frowned as she saw no signs of incoming movement, which made no sense to her as there was no way Sederis could think that she could just lock her in the attic. The asari continued to speak over the station's comm system, "I hope you can accept my apologies for not greeting you in person, but you see there is a lost little girl who needs to be returned to her Mother. Thanks for delivering her right to me, by the way, you have no idea the amount of bitching I'd have had to listen to if she had died."

Growling to herself Eva began to head back towards the lifts only to discover that every single lift was sealed due to a reported 'atmospheric leak.'

She could blow through the hatch, but it would take her longer to break through the security gate on the other side of it.

"As you probably just realized I've locked down that level, but don't worry you won't be in there for long. I have a feeling that you are going to be really branching out in a few moments."

Eva didn't need for her drones to find the explosives to know that Sederis was insane enough to blow the entire top off a space station, and given that she had no hope of exiting this level through the inside of the station.

She'd just have to use the outside.

Thumbing one of the few explosives charges she had left she threw it at the closest viewport, using her biotics to make sure it was in place before she ran out of time. She ended up detonating the charge only moments before she slammed into the transparent barrier, which turned out to be almost too fast as the security shutter that deployed automatically clipped her back on the way out sending her tumbling end over end in the void of space.

She had only a few moments to celebrate escaping the level before the entire top of the Sacred Band station exploded, and she found herself being blasted deeper into space from the shockwave.

S&S

"I'm just saying he needs a name."

Isabella rolled her eyes as she uploaded the virus into the security systems, they had been able to move swiftly through this level though they had lost one of the mechs. As a result Jones had decided that they needed to give the surviving mechanical a name.

The machine in question was hunkered down next to her, its featureless head keeping an eye on the entrance where another member of her squad, Lucas, was stationed beside.

She could practically hear the eye roll in Lucas' response to Jones, "It's a freaking war machine, man, not a goddamn pet."

"If you don't like Sparky as a name just say so."

Isabella let out a gasp as the eezo in her body reacted to a sudden surge of biotic power, and before she could shout out a warning the entire room was engulfed in a cacophony of screaming metal as a singularity ripped the wall that Lucas was using for cover apart.

The man didn't even have a chance to scream as he was pulled into the unstable biotic field, and Isabella's helmet automatically dimmed itself to protect her eyes from the flash as the field was detonated; taking both Lucas and a large portion of the wall with it.

And on the other side was the black clad figure of Jona Sederis, a twisted grin on her lips as she laid eyes on Isabella, "Finally, you have no idea how many humans I've killed today trying to find you."

Faster than an organic could respond 'Sparky' had dashed across the gap and wrapping its limbs around the asari tackled her to the floor, its mechanical voice relating a warning to the humans, "Self-Destruct mechanism activated; move to minimum safe distance."

And the humans did just that, throwing themselves into a full-on dash to escape both the explosion and the asari. A slight tremor went through the deck plating when, Isabella assumed, the mech exploded, but she didn't dare to assume the Eclipse leader was dead.

Glancing at her map to get her bearings she called back to those behind her, "There's a lift just ahead, we'll take it and regroup with the Spectre." Sara for her part kept following, but tapped the item that adorned all their hips, "Weren't we given these to deal with her?" The item in question was a modified slave collar that Lady insisted would shut down any attempts by an asari to access their biotics.

Jones though just shook his head, "If you want to get that close to the bitch who just tore apart a hardened wall like it was a fucking toy then more power to you, I vote we just fucking put as much distance between us and her as we can." That plan however was nixed as soon as they realized that the lift was dead and the doors magnetically sealed.

A flash of realization came upon the squad leader, "Lady mentioned that only the lift we used was out of Eclipse's control, and that's out of the question since it's on the other side of Sederis." Refusing to panic she calmed her mind like how Wrex had taught her, and as an idea formed she turned to Sara, "Do you remember if the hanger you checked had any ships in it?"

There was a moment of hesitation before the other woman gave her a nod, "Yes, but it was a transport. It looked operable but if the drive core isn't spooled up it could take a while." Isabella though just shook her head, "It's still a better option than running around hoping that we find a lift that Eclipse forgot to shut down."

As they moved through the latest empty hallway on their way to the hanger Jones glanced around him nervously, "Where the hell are all the mercs?"

She knew what he meant as they had fought at least three squads just getting to the security hub, but she also knew the answer from the briefing that the Spectre had given the squad leaders, "Sederis likes to play with her kills, she's probably been going level to level and sending her men to secure other areas."

Reaching the final hallway to the hanger entrance Sara slipped ahead to peek inside, before slipping back to the squad's position, "There are two Eclipse regulars in the hanger that I can see, but there could be more in the transport."

Glancing at Jones who just gave her a nod of encouragement she steeled herself, "We don't have a choice. Sara, you get to the transport and make sure it is ready to go, we'll handle the guards."

Taking the lead, the she slipped into the hanger first. It was mostly bare aside for a few scattered shipping crates near the entrance, while the transport squatted in the left side of the bay.

Targeting the furthest mercenary, she slammed a lift field into him causing him to rise towards the ceiling. Which exposed him to the follow up throw field that punted him through the Hanger entrance that was only covered by a kinetic barrier at the moment, and into the void of space. Jones in the meanwhile had downed his target in a hail of accelerator rounds and shouting, but he glanced down in worry at his belt, "Down to my last three thermal clips."

"Sara, we're good out here how's the ship?" silence was the only answer she received and in a panic, she found herself dashing towards the ship, "Sara! Dammit answer!"

A trio of Eclipse soldiers strolled out of the ship, one of whom carried a still smoking pistol in her hand, "I'm sorry, but Sara's unavailable at the moment."

Isabella's attention was pulled from the trio when Jones suddenly let out a shout of both pain and alarm as he went sailing into a nearby bulkhead. Sederis padded towards the last human standing with bored expression on her face as she approached her target, "Xelna, you and the girls go and have fun on the higher levels, I'm going to take this naughty human back home to Mommy."

The human biotic reached for the power in her body, but she let out a gasp as the Eclipse leader blinked directly in front of her. Sederis flowed around Isabella's attempt to attack and slammed a blue first into the back of the human's neck both stunning, and shattering the human's amp at the same time.

"Go, Xelna, that's an order." The asari who had murdered Sara gave a small nod, and signalled for the pair behind her to follow her out of the hanger.

Using the moment's reprieve to grab the knife hidden in her gauntlet Isabella swung at Sederis, only for the mercenary to bat the weapon away. A smirk flashed on lilac lips as Sederis spun in place before Asari slamming her armored boot into the human's stomach, but as Isabella hit the floor no follow-up blow came.

Instead she spotted Sederis land ass first on the ground nearby, before quickly scrambling to her feet with a murderous glare in her eyes, "I'll admit, Spectre, I'm impressed you both escaped and made it down her as quickly as you did."

The ring of heavy footsteps signalled that Lady was moving closer to the asari, though Isabella was confused as to how the Spectre had gotten to the hanger exit side without anyone noticing her, "I took a shortcut."

Sederis actually let out a laugh at that, "I can see why Aria wants to get her hands on your genes, there is certainly something refreshingly arrogant about you. It's just so amusing to see one of the lesser races think that they are actually our equals."

"I'll show you what a lesser race can do."

S&S

Sederis charged just as Eva had expected her to, and unlike the Sister from earlier she had taken the time to prep a damping field when she had slipped into the hanger from the void outside. So as Sederis materialized she let out a gasp as her biotics were temporarily denied to her, and never one to ignore an opening Eva slammed her knee into the asari forcing her to double over.

She had however, underestimated how long it would take for Sederis to recover and found herself on the receiving end of a cargo container that Sederis threw at her with her biotics.

Using the small respite the asari spat out a mouthful of purple blood, her eyes narrowed in anger at the proof of her mortality, "Cute trick, but that's all your kind has." Energy began to flicker off of Sederis as her body was unable to completely contain the energy she was summoning, "But I have power!"

Eva's rifle snapped to her shoulder as she fired off a handful of rounds, only to find them impact harmlessly against the barrier that was protecting the asari. Sighing the human raised her left arm, causing a micro-missile launcher to pop out of her gauntlet before launching a single missile of the pair she had available.

The missile was based on the same technology that Disruptor torpedoes used to collapse capital ship shielding, only miniaturized and even more expensive. Of course, unlike a mechanical based system a biotic could choose to simply drop their barrier, but she had a feeling that Sederis wouldn't be willing to pass up a challenge.

So as the projectile impacted against Sederis' barrier the alien let out a scream of effort as she kept trying to fuel both her attack and her barrier, but as she eyes locked on Eva's helmed visage the human realized she had miscalculated.

And so instead of keeping her barrier up in defiance of Eva's attack, Sederis instead shunted all that energy into her attack and unleashed a flare directly at the Spectre.

Eva only had a few seconds to react, and so she twisted to present her right side to the blow knowing that dodging was out of the question.

Pain blossomed as her armor warped under the intense, though brief, biotic force, causing her to collapse to the ground for a few moments as her armor was forcibly fused together in several places. Forcing herself back to reality she became aware of the sound of accelerator fire, and realized that either Isabella or her team must have been attempting to engage with Sederis when her attention was fixated on the Spectre.

Ripping off the offending armor plates, the human staggered to her feet. Her Saber had been thrown to the edge of the bay, and so in the interest of time, and saving lives, she pulled her backup weapons from their holsters and re-engaged with the Eclipse Founder.

It was obvious that the asari had been toying with the humans, but seeing that the Spectre was back on her feet Sederis batted them aside with a thought as she approached Eva with a grin, "You have stamina, I like that in prey."

Eva simply opened fire, frowning when the rounds were absorbed by Sederis' biotics. She had not anticipated that Sederis was this strong biotically. The woman was known as a proficient if violent combatant, but nothing to this degree of power that she was currently showing off.

Forced to concede that she didn't have the option of weakening her opponent from a distance, Evalyn decided that she would just have create an opening with which she could collar the alien.

Her omni lit up as she launched an incinerate at Sederis, biotics protected from many things but heat wasn't one of them, and then through her cybernetics she triggered the core of her Tempest to overload and threw it to where she predicted her opponent would blink to.

Satisfaction filled her as Sederis was stumbled from the concussive force of the explosion that she blinked into, and the Spectre swiftly closed the gap between the two of them as she slipped the collar from her waist and into her left hand.

She tasted victory.

Only for Sederis to catch the collar moments before it wrapped around her neck, "Did you think I didn't notice that all your little pawns had these?"

Eva's response was to jam her pistol as hard as she could into the Asari's side and pulled the trigger as fast as she could. Sederis' barrier unable to protect her at this close of a range, and the asari only ended the onslaught when she pushed the human away with a biotic wave.

Clutching at her side, blood oozing from several of the holes punctured through the plating, the asari's eyes blazed with anger, "Since you went to such trouble to level the playing field, why don't I just bring you to my level?" Sederis' body flared with power as she gripped the human with her biotics and slammed Eva into the side of the freighter.

The metal buckled inward from the force being exerted on it, and another pulse of power furthered the damage while also shattering the right side of the Spectre's helmet. Revealing her face to the asari, whose mouth ticked upward in amusement at the sight.

The last thing Eva heard before the ship's superstructure gave way was Sederis' mocking voice, "I'm glad you showed me what a lesser race can do."

S&S

 **Warning: Operator life signs critical.**

 **Element Zero exposure beyond critical levels.**

 **Lazarus protocol engaged.**

S&S

Sederis hummed in satisfaction as the shuttle imploded inward in a flash of blue energy.

Her blue gaze shifted over to the Isabella and Jones, and Isabella just sighed as she dropped her gaze to the ground. It was obvious by this point that neither human stood a chance against the asari.

Sederis chuckled at the despondent human, "Cheer up, little one, you'll be back home soon enough. We'll just need to move hangers to get a new ship." The alien seemed to mentally debate something in her mind as she approached the humans, "Then once that is out of the way I can get to know my new toy a bit better."

Sederis smirked as she planted her foot on Jones' chest, "If you perform well enough, I might even let you join my forces once I've had my fun," her eyes shifted over to Isabella, "though seeing you in the flesh has me rethinking giving you back to your mother, you are quite the lovely specimen, my dear."

The hanger's lights flickered for a moment, and suddenly red emergency lighting flickered into existence as an automated warning began to fill the air around them, " _Warning: A rogue Class Five intelligence has been detected in the station's mainframe, station network entering safe mode until quarantine procedures are complete."_

Sederis frowned at that announcement, "What is this nonsense about?"

Her answer swiftly came and those in the hanger could only stare at the shifting wreckage of the freighter, as a battered but very much alive Spectre emerged from the wreckage of the transport. Sederis' stupefied expression quickly turned murderous as the figure continued to approach her, stripping away broken pieces of armor, with what was obviously a cybernetic arm, before finally removing the helmet and revealing the Spectre's face.

Isabella let out a gasp as Evalyn Shepard's fierce visage revealed itself. A large portion of the right side of her face, and her left eye, was covered in an eerie red glow that had to be the result of cybernetics of some kind.

Seemingly satisfied that she was combat ready the Spectre glanced down at her natural arm, and with a flick of her wrist manifested a crimson biotic field. She seemed surprised at the color for a few moments before shooting a confident grin at her opponent, which was only made more unsettling given the red glow from the field in her hand, "Red is a good color, don't you think, Sederis?"

The Eclipse leader though simply began to slowly circle the human, who began to do likewise, reminding Isabella of two alpha predators sizing each other up. Sederis rolled her neck as she engulfed her body in a barrier of biotic energy, "I don't know who, or what, you are, but it won't matter once I've sent you to the void."

Shepard though wasn't phased by the threat, "I'm the one that you'll be kneeling to once this is over with," and the quiet confidence that she was projecting made Isabella believe every word the Spectre had said.

Sederis let out a howl of anger at the insolence of the human, and Eva found her position overrun with a series of shockwaves. The Spectre in a flash of red energy blinked from the epicenter of the attack, only to reappear nearby her omni flashing as she engulfed Sederis in a cryo blast.

The asari howled as she was coated in numerous layers of ice, a problem that Sederis overcame by releasing her stored biotic energy in a massive nova. Blowing off not only the ice, but also sending everything in the hanger, including the human bystanders, flying.

Shepard for her part quickly took control of her skid across the hanger, digging her artificial hand into the deck plating to arrest her momentum. That task accomplished Isabella could see that the Spectre had procured another pistol from somewhere, and she began to fire upon the asari who had still yet to recover from her previous attack even as with every step she closed the distance between the two of them.

Shepard's body flashed red as she slammed a biotic punch into Sederis' gut, warping plating beneath the blow before she caught the retaliatory strike of the asari's within her mechanical grasp.

Sederis' voice had lost much of the cool it had previously possessed, instead now becoming manic as Shepard refused to die, "I will not lose here, human! I'll kill you, and then I'll kill every other human on this station," an almost unhinged laugh emerged from the wide-eyed alien.

Shepard though looked at the snapped asari like a bug had landed on her hand, "You can't kill what's already dead."

Twisting violently Eva popped the asari's arm out of its socket causing a screech of pain to emerge from Sederis, and swiftly followed that up with a blow to the alien's throat that left her dazed and gasping for air.

Eva's head twisted towards the pair of human's gawking at the fight, the combination of the red eyes and loose hair made her look like some corrupted goddess to Isabells, "I need one of your collars," Sederis' body flashed with power as she clumsily swiped at the Spectre with her functional arm, "Now!"

Jones had been swifter to answer Shepard's command, and quickly tossed his collar underhand to Shepard who deftly caught it only to slam it onto Sederis' neck moments later.

The asari froze for a few moments as her biotics simply fizzled away. At least until she broke out into a full-blown cackle as Isabella could feel the Asari trying to draw upon her biotic power, despite the fact that doing so was causing the collar to send more and more feedback into her body, "If you think this toy can keep me in check, you are about to have a nasty surprise, human!"

Sederis' body began to thrum and glow with power as she tried to overload the collars capabilities. Both Jones and Isabella found themselves putting distance between themselves and the display of power, but Shepard simply stood her ground just in front of the asari.

Sederis' body was practically blinding as she continued at her attempt to overload the collar, "Once I get this collar off you die, human, then your family, and then your friends! Do you hear me, hu-"

With that Sederis's body seemingly reached the breaking point, and she collapsed to the floor just inches from the Spectres' boots.

Crimson eyes stared down impassively before a satisfied smirk formed on Shepard's lips, "You didn't kneel, but I suppose this will have to do."

S&S

Nudging Sederis' head with her boot Eva was satisfied that the alien was out for the count, "Jones, go and grab my rifle."

The man simply mutely nodded as he hurried to carry out the task assigned to him, Eva for her part started a check to ensure that all her parts were where she had last left them before she glanced at Isabella, "How bad do I look?"

The girl's mouth opened and closed several times before she sputtered out, "Your face, it, well it's glowing."

Frowning at that comment Eva held up her omni to let her get a look at her face, and seeing the red lines under her skin combined with the angry scarring around her eye her frown deepened, "That is going to be a bitch to hide."

Accepting her rifle from Jones with a nod she settled it into the crook of her cybernetic arm, "Jones, Isabella, you two stay down here and guard her, I'm going to deal with Jaroth."

They made to protest but that was silenced by a glare from the Spectre, "We did not go through all this effort to capture her alive just to have her escape, now keep her under wraps."

The two gave sharp nods of understanding as Evalyn left the hanger, and as she progressed to the closest lift her mind finally found a few moments to play catch up to what had occurred.

One: Her mind felt like it was being stretched in a thousand different directions as the nannites had taken the uplink to her omni-tool and multiplied that by what felt like a factor of a thousand.

Two: She felt spectacular. Not only from the sheer degree of biotic power that was surging through her, but her command of the energy felt more fluid, more instinctual.

Three: She was in a really, really, good mood all things considered.

Reaching out with her mind the human crushed the digital security that was keeping the lifts sealed, and with a rather nonchalant press of the keypad she began the journey up to the primary command hub.

She smirked at the repeating system announcement about a rogue intelligence, which she had to presume was technically herself given the circumstances. Luckily the network going down meant that Jaroth would have no idea what was going on from the command center until he managed to bypass the system's safeties.

As such the two mercenaries that were on the other side of the lift doors had no chance to defend themselves as she drilled a round through each of their helmets.

She had already calmly left the lift as their bodies hit the ground, and she continued her path to the command center. Opposition was sparse, likely because the mercenaries were scattered across the station dealing with the remaining hostile fire teams.

Summoning her newly strengthened biotics she lashed out at doors that barred her entrance to the command center, and with mechanical precision eliminated all those in the room save for her target.

"Jaroth, we need to have a talk."

It took the Salarian a few moments to realize that he was still alive. Though once that realization dawned he quickly took stock of the battered armor she was wearing, and quickly pieced together who it was he was dealing with. With a small shake of his head he sighed, "Should have known I was hoping for too much when Sederis said she had a plan to deal with you," he dropped into a seat behind him, "So what do you want form me, I assume it isn't to kill me or you would have done so already?"

Shepard simply chuckled at the Salarian's nerve. Honestly, she could appreciate this level of competence in an enemy, "I'm here to make a deal, one that will work out for both of us."

The alien's eyes widened with curiosity, and greed, "What kind of deal?"

Eva couldn't help but smirk, as she began to outline the plan she had been working on for months.

S&S

Vasir would always remember the moment when Shepard's crazy plan worked, one minute she was busy dodging fire from an Eclipse gunship and the next it was doing a strafing run against one of the Na'Hesit positions.

Knowing that Evalyn had pulled off her part of the deal Tela began to roar at the soldiers who were still capable of moving, "Push into the city, we're ending this tonight!"

"And don't shoot the mercenaries unless you want to get us all killed," Vasir had to chuckle at Wrex, always looking on the bright side.

They were met at one of the city's gates by one of the Illium sisters, a bitch by the name of Wasea if she remembered correctly, "This way Spectre, we've captured the corporatists in the city's legislature."

Following the mercenary Vasir couldn't help but frown at the statement, "That's rather fast given that you couldn't have been given the order from Jaroth that long ago."

Wasea actually shot a pleased smirk at her, "The Boss didn't want to take any chances, so we've had a detail around all of our clients. Of course, we claimed it was for security purposes, we just neglected to say whose security it was that we were safeguarding."

Wrex gave out a dark chuckle at that, "Smart," which earned him a glare from the Spectre.

Wasea led them through a winding path through the city, striving to avoid the heaviest of the firefights that had broken out inside the city. However, it was quickly becoming evident that the Na'Hesit had no hope of beating the seasoned professionals that had betrayed them.

On the way to their destination Vasir found herself confronted by the realities of what she had been fighting against.

Cages of people littered public squares, auction blocks setup nearby to enable faster turnover of stock as soon as it was acquired from the battlefield.

Malnourished humans, and in some cases other council races, in slave collars continued to perform the tasks that had been assigned to them, even when it was obvious that their Masters had either fled or been eliminated in the chaos that was gripping the city.

Wrex expressed her feelings perfectly when he just shook his head, "This makes me miss Tchunka."

Wasea soon led them inside a large, overly, ornate building, and as they passed by more and more Eclipse soldiers she realized just how right Shepard had been about their chances of success had this plan of theirs not paid off.

Finally, they were led into a large hall, benches lined the walls and she realized this must have been the seat of the planetary government. Spotting what she presumed to be the corporate leaders down below Tela glanced at the darker skinned asari next to her, "Why bring them in here?"

Wasea just gave her an incredibly pleased smirk, "Well, this is where they signed their little slavery bill, so I thought it would be fitting if you executed them in here."

Vasir gave a small nod at that, "I take it your men don't have a problem in assisting in this matter?"

"By the goddess, no. Twist my arm and I might just volunteer myself for execution duty," the young Eclipse soldier flashed Tela a grin that would have been cute, had it not been elicited by the thought of murder.

No matter how justified it might be in this case.

Wrex though noticed her hesitation, "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get off this rock."

Giving the Krogan a small nod she made her way down to the center of the room, her eyes sweeping over the assembled leaders, businesspersons, and general scum who had taken a planet over the brink of war.

All for profits.

"I hope that you all know who I am, but for those who aren't aware my name is Tala Vasir. I represent the Council as a member of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Branch, and as such it is my duty to enforce the laws of Citadel Space."

She pulled up the dossier that she and Eva had gone over prior, it contained the shortlist of the leadership that would be more beneficial to the Council alive and imprisoned than dead and an example.

She began to move down the list, and instructed Wasea to have them brought to a secured room until she had them transferred to a Citadel ship.

She halted as she saw one name that Eva must have added last minute, "Candace Mills."

Wrex gave her a strange look at that one, but he moved up and yanked the woman to her feet before leading her out of the room. The list over with Vasir turned her attention to those who remained.

"The punishment for enslaving another sapient in Citadel space is a minimum of thirty-five years in a max-sec prison, however given the scale of your charges, and the sheer amount of pain and suffering that has been caused due to your actions the Council has agreed to hand down a special sentence in this instance."

"Execution."

The collective of them burst into outrage at her proclamation, but she ignored them as she began to direct the Eclipse soldiers into their positions.

And then in a single burst of light and sound it was over, and silence reigned.

S&S

A week had passed, and many changes had taken place on Anhur.

Primary of those, was that it had found itself being placed under Alliance control when the Turian's had, in a surprising turn of events, put their support behind the human's initiative to 'safeguard' the planet from future destabilizing events.

Tela hadn't been too pleased when she had realized that Eva had orchestrated the deal between Sparatus and the newly appointed human ambassador Donnel Udina, but she had, begrudgingly, conceded that Shepard hadn't done anything wrong in her little scheme.

She had just apparently not expected the human to still be loyal to the SA.

And in truth, Eva wasn't.

She was however very interested in ensuring a smooth relationship with the sole human she might be coming into contact with on a regular basis over the next few years, and it was for that reason that she walked through the halls of the dignitary ship the SA had sent to visit Anhur.

Her old armor was obviously destroyed from the fight with Sederis, and so she had been forced to ship in one of Dekrin's newer prototypes. She preferred to keep her new toys under wraps, but she also never intended on interacting with the Alliance in a state that suggested weakness.

Her Father had taught her that lesson.

A hatch opened revealing a small conference room, Udina stood up and gave a small nod to the soldier that had led her in, "Thank you, Herman."

The moment the hatch shut behind the soldier Udina gave her a cool glance, "You can sweep the room for bugs, I won't take offence."

It took the work of a few moments for her to ascertain that the room was indeed clean, and Udina simply leaned back in his chair as he regarded her, "I really have no idea what to make of the little gift you sent my way, and I'm somewhat wary of the price-tag that must be attached to it."

She merely smirked at that, "No price, rather think of this as the beginning of a business arrangement. You gain access to Spectre assistance on occasion, and I want access to whatever data on Cerberus that floats your way."

"Cerberus," the man rubbed a hand along his jaw as he debated that subject, "they've been becoming a nuisance in recent years, Director Quinn in particular is becoming increasingly aggravated by what he sees as efforts by the brass to protect the organization."

She gave a small nod at that, "Assuming that we have an accord here, I'd like to know how the bureaucrats took to the Anhur situation."

The man sighed as he picked up and then waved one of the datapads that littered the table at her, "Parliament had an utter fit when they first read the proposal that we pay those mercenaries, but the moment they realized that it might let them get their grubby paws on Anhur's eezo mines," the man gave her an oily smirk, "their tunes changed quite drastically."

"Yes, I thought they would."

Setting the pad down the man seemed to hesitate before he found his nerve, "There is one problem area, Isabella Mills."

"What about her?"

"Well, you see," the man shifted uncomfortably under the expressionless gaze of her helmet, "she's not a citizen of the SA, and as she is then technically a colonial it means that she is unable to own a SA registered company."

Realizing where this is going she sighed, "And the parliament wants to seize Candace Mills assets."

"Quite, now I can halt the proposal, but I would need an unaffiliated SA citizen to sponsor the girl. I don't suppose that you have someone in mind?"

"I might."

The Ambassador nodded at that, "Well if there was nothing else, I do have quite a bit of work to oversee during this transitionary period."

"Yes, there is one final matter," the Spectre stepped in close, taking advantage of the intimidation factor her height gave her, "Sederis, I know that the Alliance personnel who transported her took several samples of her blood, I want one."

"I suppose that can be arranged." The smaller man backed up somewhat awkwardly from her, "Good day, Spectre."

She couldn't resist letting out the chuckle that was building in her throat, "Good day, Ambassador."

S&S

A disgruntled, still obviously half-asleep, Cora Addison appeared on the screen before Evalyn, her eyes widening at the sight of her old friend. Surprise though was quickly supplanted by anger as the woman reached forward to disconnected the call, only to be halted by the tired voice of Shepard, "Please, don't hang up, Cora."

The woman hesitated long enough that Eva knew she was going to be allowed to say her piece, "I need a favor."

That earned a snort from the other woman, "Yeah, I figured that much, what catastrophe have you spawned this time?"

"I need you to sponsor someone," Cora's eyes narrowed at that, but she held off her comment as Eva continued to speak, "Isabella Mills, her mother is being taken into Citadel custody and neither or her parents applied to have her become an Alliance citizen prior to this clusterfuck," her voice trailed off, though Cora nodded in understanding of the situation.

"My mother has connections to the Mills family, if I remember both her parents were staunch colonials so I suppose it isn't such a shock that they wouldn't want her to be registered. Plus, rumor has it that the girl's a biotic, and we both know the length the military is willing to go to get more biotics in the forces," a tired sigh emerged from the older of the pair, "There's been talk of conscripting biotics, I can only hope that doesn't happen for Maddi's sake."

The blonde nodded in agreement, "How is Maddison?"

Cora blinked in confusion, before her face softened somewhat, "She's doing much better now that her treatments are done, not that you ever showed much interest before."

"We might have stopped talking by the time you and Matthew got together, but I always kept tabs," Eva gave a small look at the disbelieving stare the redhead was giving her, "You are, or I guess were, the only friend I've ever had, Cora." Feeling the faintest trace of embarrassment at that admission the blonde turned her head away from the screen, "Anyway, do you think it would be possible for you to sponsor her, it would just have to until she can do her stint in the military and earn her citizenship."

An aggravated sigh emerged from Cora, but she gave a small nod, "Just send me the papers and I'll take it to Mathew's mother, he might not like it but she's got enough sway to get it approved."

"Thank you, Cora."

A scoff erupted from thin lips, "I'm not doing this for you, Eva, you look like shit by the way."

And with that she disconnected the call.

Eva sat in the dim room, staring at the dead screen for a few minutes before releasing a sigh that filled the room, "Nice talking to you too."

Getting to her feet she rubbed her cybernetic hand down her flesh and blood limb, she still wasn't sure the extent of what she had done to her body but at times it felt like there were ants crawling under her skin.

Now was one of those times.

"Tess, tell Isabella to come in here, please."

It took a few moments for the door to open, sliding through the space that the T3's guarding the door left for her, "You wanted to see me, Shepard?"

The girl wilted under the Spectre's gaze, and she quickly backtracked, "Lady, I meant Lady."

A low hum emerged from the older woman as she held a hand out for the girl to take a seat, "As you know the Alliance's appropriation of Anhur has left you in a precarious legal position, a non-Alliance citizen cannot hold a majority stake in an Alliance corporation after all." Isabella's eyes flashed in anger, but she was silenced by Shepard's gesture for silence, "As such, I've taken steps to have an old friend of mine sponsor you until you come of age, at which point you will have to serve a stint in the Alliance military to gain your citizenship status."

"I won't do it."

Eva couldn't help but let out the cruel laugh at the girl's childish statement, "Oh, and what will you do? The Alliance isn't just going to let a biotic with your potential slip through their fingers, at least if you take my offer you'll keep both your family's company and get the best treatment available."

Turning away from the girl Shepard paced to the edge of the room, pressing a hand to one of her temples in an effort to stave off a migraine, "This is your call to make, but I can only hope that you make the smart one."

Shooting a glance over her shoulder the blonde gestured at the door, "You'll have the day to think this over, Isabella, go and talk with Wrex if it helps but in the end your destiny is your own."

S&S

Evalyn spat out a curse as she loaded the last of her gear into her ship, Vasir was actually being helpful as she brought out another crate filled with the deconstructed tactical tank, "You sure you trust me with this crap?"

"That fact that you are calling it crap confirms my choice." Vasir burst out into a laugh at that, as she dumped yet another crate inside her own ship, "So you just want me to dump this stuff on Illium?"

"Yes, I'll have some people discretely move it from the warehouse you'll be dropping it off at."

Glancing around Vasir shot a slightly troubled smirk at the human, "Well, this is it, I guess. Be careful, Lady."

Cocking her head slightly the blonde couldn't help but let an amused smile play on her lips, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you are worried about me, Tela."

"I am."

Vasir let out a nervous puff of air as she glanced around the bay, "The Council almost never assigns back to back missions, and I've never heard of them doing it to a probationary Spectre. This doesn't feel right, and well," the blue alien gave a small shrug of her shoulders, "Nihlus would be upset if you died."

"Oh, well if Nihlus would get upset, I'll take extra care then."

"Good, he'd hate to lose that bet with Saren."

"Great," Eva frowned she registered the entirety of the asari's comment, "Wait? What bet with Saren!"

A sudden thud filled the bay, and the pair turned to spot Wrex lugging his gear, "You two done yet? My trigger finger's getting itchy."

Tela gave out a small laugh as she biotically lifted the Krogan's case, "I'll stow this, give you two some privacy."

The Battlemaster stomped his way over to her, before extending one of his arms, "May your enemies fall before you, and your people always be victorious."

She nodded in thanks, but felt compelled to respond, "I don't have a people anymore, but thank you, Battlemaster."

Wrex just laughed at that, "You choose your people, Lady, I learned that the hard way." Hauling back the Krogan suddenly slammed his crust into her helmet, a smirk on his wide maw, "And Lady, we've shed blood together, you can call me Wrex."

The old warrior began to stomp off at that, but he slowed his gait before turning back to her, "If you ever want to undergo the Rite properly, I'd be privileged to serve in your Krant."

Eva really didn't have a response for that, and she was surprised to realize just how deeply the krogan's offer touched her.

Of course, she wasn't the sentimental type, and she had quickly hauled herself into her ship, "Tess, all systems green?"

"Of course, Ma'am, our course to the Citadel has already been plotted out."

S&S

Credit Song: Brave Heart cover by PelleK

Anhur's done!

I swear that deciding to do this arc was the worst idea I've ever had, especially as I had already dropped it the first time around for the exact same reason that I've been struggling so much with this one.

I'm looking forward to the next two chapters quite a bit though, and I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter.


End file.
